Trusting The Enemy
by AngieLuz
Summary: A corporal is found dead and every clue leads to an English woman who was linked to a terrorist organization in the past. Gibbs and Tony call a friend for help but everything complicates with her presence. Tony/OC & Gibbs/OC
1. Prologue

**Hello, everyone.**

**This is the first story I've ever posted here in and my first NCIS story.**

**Sorry for the many inaccuracies you might find, I did my best.**

**The usual disclaimers coming up: I don't own anything about NCIS. Everything belongs to CBS, Donald. P Bellisario and blah blah blah… (Yes, I know… why can't we own Mr. DiNozzo? Or at least his real alter ego Mr. Weatherly… buuuuu)**

**Enjoy and please, R&R!!!**

**Prologue**

"Can't we at least talk about this, Kirsty?" Andrew insisted for the gazillienth time

"No, we can't! I told you I didn't want to see you ever again, Andrew" Kirsty yelled from the inside

"C'mon! I know you still love me"

"I don't love you, Andrew… I never did, we didn't even have a serious relationship. You said it yourself!"

"Well, yeah, but… I'm having second thoughts… please, baby, let me in…"

Kirsty had had it. She opened the door and approached determinedly to Andrew.

In less than a second, Andrew was stumbling backwards with a bloody nose caused by Kirsty's fist on his nose.

"Don't baby me" She simply said rubbing her sore fist "Ouch…"

She walked back into her house and was about to close the door but someone stronger pushed it open making her fall on her back and that someone fell on top of her.

"Ow…" Kirsty groaned opening her eyes after the impact "Andrew! Andrew, get off me! What's wrong with you?"

No answer. Andrew was apparently not listening to her. Nor moving.

"Andrew! Andrew?" Kirsty frowned, utterly confused "Andrew? Are you…? Did I hit you that hard? I'm sorry… but this is not the way to… Andrew?"

She lowered her hand to shake him, to see if he was alright but something wet caught her completely off guard. As she raised her hand, she saw a red liquid covering it. Blood.

"Oh my God… Andrew… Andrew! Help! Somebody help me!"

Meanwhile, at a Starbucks in Washington D.C. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo waited in line for his turn to come but it was taking to long for his liking.

"C'mon, people! Some of us actually have to work!" He exclaimed gaining some disapproving looks and some others agreeing

Exhaling, he looked at his surroundings:

"Overweight… too short… too tall…" He thought as he scanned the crowded coffee shop for ladies "Too blonde… mmm… not all that bad"

His eyes set upon a short red haired girl. She couldn't be more than 20 but that didn't seem to stop her from flirting with Tony who didn't hesitate on flirting back.

He continued looking at her while his order was being taken and once he held his coffee in his hand, he commenced his journey towards the girl who giggled and twisted a lock of her tiny her with her fingers.

Just as Tony opened his mouth to start his conquest ritual, a woman walked past behind the short haired girl and made Tony go completely speechless.

The same black hair, the same brown eyes, the same walk. It had to be her.

"Uhmm… bye…" He told the girl leaving her totally confused as he rushed to the entrance, trying to catch up with the other woman "Hey! Hey! Wait!"

Failure. His calls were of no avail as the woman hopped on a cab and left.

"Damn it…" Tony muttered under his breath and his cell phone rang "Gibbs…" He read "Yeah, it had to be… Yes, boss?"

"I want you in the office in less than 10 minutes" Gibbs commanded at the other side of the phone

"I'll be there in 9"

"You've got 8, DiNozzo" And Gibbs hung up

"Great… just great…" He mumbled snapping his phone shut


	2. Chapter 1: Mr Balboa

**Hello again!**

**I want to thank the people who in the last few hours in which my story has been out have read it, reviewed it, added it to favorites, etc.**

**I'm gonna post the first chapter since I've already written the whole thing and I can't wait to keep posting… it's kinda addictive, I must say.**

**So, again, the usual disclaimers: I don't own a thing about NCIS. The only things I own are my OC's which are many lol and I'm not about to list them all and ruin the surprise for you. CBS and the other lucky people own Mr. DiNozzo, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. McGee, Miss David, Mr. Ducky (I know its Mallard but Ducky sounds nicer), Miss Sciuto and Mr. Vance. Hopefully I haven't forgotten anyone but in case I have, all the names you don't recognize are, like I mentioned before MY characters (at least I can say I own something lol).**

**Enjoy and please, R&R**

**CHAPTER 1**

"Wasn't Tony supposed to be here already?" Ziva asked 8 and a half minutes after Gibbs had called Tony

"He probably got distracted with Carol from Legal..." McGee replied without taking hi eyes off the screen

"Hmm... probably..." The Israeli woman repeated staring at the elevator

"Wrong, McGee..." Tony interfered as the steel doors slid open "It was hot chick from Starbucks"

"Just about the same" McGee said looking up from his computer

"Gibbs is gonna have your butt" Ziva said mockingly

"Ass, Ziva, ass... and I am not that late"

"Yes, you are, DiNozzo" Gibbs said walking into the bullpen carrying his cup of coffee

"Sorry, boss" Tony said

"Gear up, people, we've got a dead corporal"

Tony, Ziva and McGee exchanged looks before grabbing their go-bags and following Gibbs into the elevator.

At the crime scene...

"Whoa... Ducky's gonna have a good time with this one" Tony remarked as the 4 of them walked into the house

The body of the soldier who had been murdered was lying on his back with a bloody nose and an almost invisible wound in his chest.

"Such a small wound and all this blood?" Ziva asked taking a couple of pictures of the body

"My dear Ziva" Ducky started as he approached to the crime scene "When are you going to learn that the size is of no importance? Mr. Palmer, would you please give me a hand and examine the wound?"

"Yes, doctor" Jimmy said eagerly to start working "It's a single stab in the chest, doctor. Very simple"

"Very simple indeed, my boy. Let's see..." Ducky kneeled down and analyzed the corpse of the blonde soldier "Just as I thought. The weapon, whatever it might have been punctured the heart"

"Is that the cause of death, Duck?" Gibbs asked

"For sure, Jethro but you'll have to let me take a look at this poor lad on my table so I can determine every possible anomaly, though, I can tell you that this young man was moved"

"What do you mean, Duck?"

"There's a trail of blood here, boss" McGee announced from the porch of the house "And it ends about 3 inches beside our diseased

"Was that what you meant?" Gibbs asked Ducky who nodded

* * *

"Our corporal has been identified as Cpl. Andrew Collins. He recently came back from Afghanistan. He was staying at his apartment in 26 Calvert St." McGee reported once they were back in the office

"I was talking to the officer who attended the emergency call and he says that the caller was an anonymous woman with a light and very elegant British accent. She said that someone had killed a friend of hers at her house" Tony explained getting up from his chair

"And does this mystery woman have a name, DiNozzo?"

"Kirsty Randall" Ziva answered as she hung up the phone

"I want to know everything about this Miss Randall" Gibbs instructed eyeing McGee

"On it, boss" Tim replied typing away as Gibbs phone rang

"Yes… ok, Abs, I'll be right there. Ziva, Tony, go to Collins' place and see what you can find"

Gibbs ordered and rushed towards Abby's lab.

"I don't trust British people" Ziva said

"Do you know any?" Tony asked

"A couple… you?"

"Yes… a couple too…" His reply came out so serious that Ziva frowned

"What is it?"

"What?" Tony asked looking down at her "Nothing, nothing…"

* * *

Miles away, in a cheap hotel, Kirsty paced up and down the room trying to figure out what to do.

After taking Andrew off of her, she had packed a small suitcase, taken all the money she had at home and fled the place.

She couldn't risk staying at her house and becoming a murder suspect. There was nowhere left for her to go. Going back to England was impossible and now she had to leave the U.S.

"This is a nightmare… it has to be a nightmare…"

The high volume techno beat that echoed in Abby's lab came into the elevator as the doors slid open to let Gibbs out.

He noticed the face of Cpl. Collins on Abby's screen.

"What have you got, Abs?" He asked and the tall gothic forensic analyst turned around to face him and smiled at him

"Hey, Gibbs… well… I've been running all the fingerprints you brought for me and I haven't been able to find matches for 2 of the 3 sets I've got…" Abby squinted as Gibbs raised his eyebrows "But you don't want to know what I don't have, you want to know what I have, right?" Gibbs nodded "Right… ok, this is what I've got: one of the sets of fingerprints is from Cpl. Collins. They were in the doorknob, the door and the floor. I'm still running a match search on the other two but nothing and…" She walked to another table "Ducky sent me an impression of the wound of our guy and it was made by a round metal sharp object. And even though you couldn't find the murder weapon in the crime scene, Ducky recovered a few traces of the weapon's material" Abby waited for Gibbs to ask but he didn't "Not even a drum roll? Nothing? Argh… ok… it's copper! Copper was highly used by the Soviet Union army a long time ago and after the Russian army changed their arsenal only arm dealers, clandestine gangs and terrorist used copper for their weapons"

Gibbs nodded and leaned to kiss Abby on the cheek "Thanks, Abs…"

"I'll call you when I get more!" She called as he got into the elevator and left to see Ducky

* * *

"Oh, Jethro, just in time…" Ducky exclaimed removing his face mask

"COD?" Gibbs simply asked

"Puncture to the heart caused by a round sharp object. I suppose Abigail has already given you the details on that…"

"She has"

"Alright… well, there's more… It took about 20 seconds for our lad here to die because of the gravity of the wound. Now, a wound like this is very uncommon. I know only of two kinds of people who would do that: high elite military and…"

"Soviet terrorists" Gibbs completed

"Exactly. The blood we found around his body drained through the small wound and it was slowly, although, fortunately for our poor fellow here, it happened once he was long gone"

"And what about the nose?" Gibbs questioned

"At first I thought the fracture and bleeding could have been caused because of the fall but then I realized someone punched him pre-mortem. The bleeding and bruising around the nose tell us that"

"He was already dead when he hit the floor"

"Indeed he was…"

Without saying anything else, Gibbs nodded at the M.E. and left.

* * *

"Report, McGee" Gibbs said walking into the bullpen

"Yes, boss" Tim replied and sent all the information to the big screen "Kirsty Randall. 35. Works as a book illustrator. Born and raised in London, England. She moved to D.C. 2 years ago with a work visa. No family in the country and no exact reason of moving…"

"But…?" Gibbs said

"But… I found this…"

McGee clicked enter and a confidential MI6 file appeared on the screen.

"MI5? Was she involved in some kind of high profile crime?" Gibbs asked

"Not really… according to this, she was related to a Russian entrepreneur called Dmitri Vasiliev. He was investigated by MI6 and Interpol because they thought he was involved with one of the most dangerous Russian terrorist cell. They were both under severe investigation and he was eventually arrested" McGee explained

"And her? Was she arrested?"

"It doesn't look like…"

In that moment, Tony and Ziva returned from Collins' apartment and noticed the Kirsty's profile on the screen.

"Hey, boss, we found a picture of that woman in Collins' apartment. We brought it because we thought it could be the owner of the house" Tony said

"Yeah, that's her. Kirsty Randall" McGee said

"What else did you find?" Gibbs asked

"Nothing much, really… no weapons, no drugs, not even flu medicine. Nothing suspicious" Ziva replied

"Well, apparently she had something to do with Collins' death. She's been involved in other problems in the past" Tim declared

"DiNozzo… look at the agent who led the case in London" Gibbs said handing Tony the file

Tony took it and widened his eyes as he recognized the name.

"No way…" He said

"Oh yes… and guess what you're gonna do now?" Gibbs asked with a small smile threatening to show

"Uhmm… go to lunch?" Tony asked hopefully. Gibbs walked up to him and slapped him in the back of the head making Tony cringe "Call her" He corrected

"That's right, DiNozzo, call her. I want her here before the day ends" Gibbs replied heading towards the elevator "Ziva, McGee! You're with me!"

"What?" Tony questioned outraged "What about me?"

"CALL HER, DINOZZO!" Gibbs repeated

All Tony could do was to watch Ziva and Tim smile and shrug at him as they flanked Gibbs while the elevator doors closed.

"It would be easier to shoot myself…" Tony cursed under his breath

He looked around, as if hoping for someone to free him from the task Gibbs had imposed on him.

"Ok, Tony… you can do this… yes, you can…" He tried to convince himself taking a seat behind his desk and stared at the phone both, menacingly and scared "No… nope, I can't…" He stood up once more, gave a few hops, moved his head around trying to release the tension and cracked his knuckles "Just like Mr. Balboa, Tony… tararaaaaaaan tararaaaaaaan…"

That caught some people's attention. He was now humming the musical theme from 'Rocky'.

"Alright… here we go…" Once again he sat down; picked up the phone and dial the number he knew by memory.

After a couple of rings, she finally answered "Hello?"

And Tony hung up.

"Crap!" He cursed without letting go of the phone "Idiot! Idiot! Ok… I can do this…"

He dialed again but this time he didn't have to wait. She was obviously waiting for him to dial again.

"Did you know it is rude to cut someone off on the phone, Tony?" She said without even greeting

"So I've heard… hi, Liz…" Tony replied and couldn't help to smile at the sound of her voice

* * *

**Ok, people, that was Chapter 1 and I can proudly say I've finally figured out how to format the text here... it's sooooooooo complicated but hey, be merciful, this is my very first time posting something here.**

**So, anyways, I hope you're liking it and if you don't then... don't read... or keep reading, it might actually grow on you lol.**

**Thank you for taking a bit of your time to read it; I really appreciate it. MWAH!**

**I'll be posting the next chapter tomorrow and keep R&Ring... ¿? *lmao***

**Koo koo cah choo! ;)**


	3. Chapter 2: Pretty Girls Make Me Nervous

**Good morning, my darlings!!!**

**I am so happy today after seeing in my inbox how many people have added my story or me as an author to their favorites. I can't express with words how much that made my day so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!**

**Ok, so... I am so happy I'm posting early today which means I might be posting again later during the day... Woohoo!!!**

**And again, you know the same ol' drill: I own nothing about NCIS. Lucky CBS, Mr. Bellisario and other people do. Up to this point I own Kirsty Randal, Cpl. Andrew Collins, Ilya Smirnov, Elizabeth Hadley and creepy man on the phone. **

**CHAPTER 2**

"Uhmm, boss, where are we going?" McGee asked from the back seat of the car

"To the crime scene" Gibbs said without any other explanation

A few minutes later they got to the place and after passing under the crime scene yellow tape, they walked into the house.

"And… exactly what are we looking for?" Ziva asked

"Anything about this woman. We concentrated on Collins because we didn't know who the owner of the house was but now that we do, we have to find out more about her" Gibbs replied walking towards the bedroom

He entered the neat pale green bedroom. The bed was made with a floral patterned duvet. On top of the night side table, next to the antique lamp and the alarm clock Gibbs noticed a picture and he picked it up to analyze it.

It was a picture with 2 people. One of them was definitely their suspect, Kirsty Randall and the other one was an unknown man. They were both smiling and Kirsty was looking up at him as he passed his arm around her shoulders. In the background, the Big Ben could be seen and it looked like a cold winter day.

Then, as he placed the picture back down, the bathroom door opened and Kirsty walked out of it putting some things into a bag.

"Oh God!" She exclaimed as she looked up and saw Gibbs

The first thing she could think of doing was running. Big mistake.

She ran but didn't even make it out of the room. Gibbs stopped her and pressed her back up against the wall.

"Let me go, please… I didn't do anything…" She pleaded sobbing

"Are you Kirsty Randall?" Gibbs asked already knowing the answer and she could do nothing but nod "We need to ask you some questions, Miss Randall"

"I didn't do it, I swear! I couldn't… I wouldn't!"

She broke down in tears and Gibbs watched her with pity.

"Take it easy… we just need to ask you some questions. Come with me"

He grabbed her by the crook of her arm and led her out of the bedroom towards the front door.

"Boss?" McGee asked as he looked shocked at Gibbs and Kirsty

"We're out of here, McGee" Gibbs instructed as he exited the house along with Kirsty while Ziva and Tim followed

* * *

Tony had been waiting for 5 minutes at the coffee shop where he had agreed to meet with Liz. It had been almost 2 years since he last saw her and to be completely honest with himself, he was feeling quite nervous.

"Are you always this fidgety?" Liz asked with her British accent standing behind him making him smile even before he turned

"Oh, you know me, Liz… pretty girls make me nervous" He replied facing her

"Is that what happened this morning at Starbucks when you couldn't even say hi to that redhead?"

"You saw me and you didn't say hi?"

Elizabeth Hadley smiled back at her friend.

For Tony, she looked exactly the same: long black wavy hair, brown eyes, lovely smile.

She didn't give it second thoughts and hugged him.

"Hey, there…" She heard him whisper in her ear

"Hi…"

"You're looking good" Tony complimented as they parted

"Why, thank you, very special agent DiNozzo, so are you" Then there was a moment of silence "So… you wanted to see me just to say this or…?"

"I wish I could say that but no… I… Gibbs asked me to call you"

"Ah… I see… a case?" She inquired and Tony nodded "Wanna tell me about it?"

"Yeah but not here… let's go get a coffee"

Liz agreed and they entered the closest coffee shop around, ordered something simple and started talking.

"How have you been, Liz?" Tony asked catching her completely off guard

"Uhmm… fine, Tony, I've been fine… and you?"

"Yeah… fine too…" He replied, his voice trailing off

"You want to ask me something, don't you?"

"What are you doing in D.C.?"

"Whoa… that was direct… I thought you would be glad I was here… you just said Gibbs asked you to call me and as far as I know we are not allowed to discuss cases over the phone…"

"You didn't answer my question" Tony said seriously and Liz exhaled

"I came here to report the results of a mission I was on… does that answer your question?"

"No details, huh?" He asked and she shook her head "Alright, then yes, that sort of answers my question…" His reply made Liz laugh

"Oh, c'mon, Tony, don't take it personally. You know I am not at liberty to discuss the details of any missions I might be involved in…"

"I know and it sucks" Tony whined

"It does, sometimes… anyway… what can I do for you, Gibbs and NCIS?"

"What do you know about a Kirsty Randall?"

"Kirsty Randall. London. Soviet terrorists case 2 years ago. She wasn't even booked. What about her?" Liz asked taking a sip of her coffee

"She's the suspect of our current case"

"Really? What did she get herself into this time?"

"Murder of a corporal"

"That's… not good…"

"Especially for the corporal" Tony joked

"That was so cruel, Tony" Liz reprimanded but couldn't help to chuckle "And why does NCIS need me?"

"Because there seem to be certain similarities between Kirsty Randall's case in London and Kirsty Randall's case here"

"But she didn't commit any crime 2 years ago. I fail to find the similarities"

"Well, Liz, I think that's where we need you. You're an excellent profiler and you know this case, I'm assuming better than anyone"

"Am I sensing some serious ass-kissing here?" Liz asked narrowing her eyes and smirking at Tony

"Just a little"

"Ok, well, I suppose I can't really refuse now, can I?"

"Nope… I don't believe you can"

"Alright… your case… fill me in"

"I'll tell you in the car. I need to have you at NCIS before the day ends, according to Gibbs"

"Sounds like Gibbs. Let's go"

Tony paid the bill; they got into his car and headed off to NCIS.

* * *

At an abandoned warehouse, Ilya Smirnov was cleaning his weapon of choice when his cell phone rang.

"**да****?** _(Yes__?)_" He answered

"**это****делается****?** _(Is it done?)_" The man at the other side of the phone asked

"**да** _(__Yes__)_"

"**Я полагаю, то, что агент мертв…? **_(I assume then that the agent is dead…?)_"

"**Нет****, ****это****будет****сказка****меня****больше****, ****чем****я****ожидал**_(No, that's going to take me longer than I expected)_"

"**Я****думал****, ****что****понимание****, ****Илья** _(I__ thought we had an understanding__, Ilya)_"

"**Она****не****так****легко****найти**_ (She's not easy to find__)_" Ilya replied "**Но****ваш****маленький****друг****телесные****Коллинз****из****вашего****способом**_ (But your little friend, corporal Collins is out of your way)_" He continued mockingly squinting his small dark eyes

"**Вы сказали, что убьют ее, прежде чем убить Коллинз! Сейчас флот будет следующий ваш привести прежде чем я смогу избавиться от этого сука! Я****не****могу****продолжать****платить****за****свои****ошибки**_(You said you would kill her before killing Collins! Now the Navy is going to be following your lead before I can get rid of that bitch! __I cannot keep paying for your mistakes)_"

"**Я****буду****исправить****это****сам****. **_(I __will__ fix this myself._" Ilya responded in a menacing tone "**Но****цена****изменилась** _(But the price has changed)_"

"**Ты****сошел****с****ума****, ****если****вы****думаете****, ****что****я****буду****платить****тебе****больше****после****того****, ****что****вы****сделали**_ (You're out of your mind if you think I'm gonna pay you more after what you've done__)_" The man exclaimed outraged

"**Хорошо****, ****отказываются****платить****мне****больше****, ****и****что****агент****будет****с****другими****полицейскими****достаточно****долго****, ****чтобы****привести****их****к****вам**_ (__Alright, refuse to pay me more and that agent will be with the other cops long enough to lead them to you__)_" Ilya threatened

"**Прекрасный. Вы будете иметь ваши деньги до полуночи. ****Но я хочу сделать работу до рассвета. Если нет, то вам придется заплатить за это, Илья. Вы не только убийцы, который готов работать на меня, и что вы не столь любимые народе твоем** _(__Fine__. __You will have your money by midnight. But I want the job done before dawn. If not, you will pay for this, Ilya. You are not the only assassin who is willing to work for me and that you are not so loved among your people)_"

"**Я****не****думаю****, ****что****вы****в****состоянии****сделать****какие****-****либо****угрозы****, ****г****-****н****Волков** _(I do not believe you are in the position to make any threats, Mr. Volkov)_"

"**Просто****делать****свою****работу****, ****Илья****или****вы****хотели****бы****вы****не****родились** _(Just__ do__ your__ job, Ilya or you'll wish you hadn't been born)_" And with that, the man hung up

"**Конечно****, ****г****-****н****Волков****, ****что****ни****говори** _(Sure, Mr. Volkov, whatever you say)_" Ilya laughed and continued his task: cleaning a cylindrical copper dagger, the reflection of the light on the blade of the knife dancing on his face enhancing the deformed half of his face.

* * *

**Uuuuuu, see? Creepy man on the phone! I told you!!! lol**

**Anyways... I hope you liked this chapter and that you're enjoying the story. I must warn you, though, it's gonna get really confusing and complicated but you can be sure it will be agile, entertaining and full of action!**

**Oh and before I forget, I don't speak Russian so I used an online translator. In case any of you actually speak Russian (oh, I envy you so much) I apologize for the many mistakes I probably made. Oh, and before I forget, a huge apology to the Russian people. This is not meant as an insult and it is definitely not an statement of my point of view towards Russia or anything related to it. I like Russian people very much (yes, I've met a couple). This is just a manifestation of my wild imagination so please, don't take it personally... and if you do then remember all the Bond films in which the Russians have been the baddies ;).**

**That been said... keep R&Ring and have a good time trying to figure out the continuous riddle this story turned into under my pen.**

**MWAH! Koo Koo Kah Choo!!! xoxo**


	4. Chapter 3: Probie's Deal

**Good morning, everyone!**

**I'm really sorry I didn't post more yesterday... I kinda fell asleep *blushes*  
****But here I am today... still sleepy but meh... let's post away.**

**Usual disclaimers: Blah blah blah... something to do with CBS... blah blah blah... and a Bellisario guy...  
I do happen to own Elizabeth Hadley, Kirsty Randall, Ilya Smirnov, Creepy Man On The Phone, Cpl. Andrew Collins, Dmitri Vasiliev, Matthew Jackson and Paul Morris.**

**Enjoy, my darlings ;)**

**CHAPTER 3**

"Please, take a seat, Miss Randall" Gibbs instructed after closing the interrogation room door "Can I get you anything?"

"No… thank you…" Kirsty replied coyly, staring down at the steel table

"Alright…" He said sitting across from her "Why did you leave your house before the police arrived?"

"I… I was scared… I didn't know what to do. I haven't been here in the States long and… after what happened in…" She stopped abruptly and covered her mouth as her widened, watery eyes looked at Gibbs

"After what happened where, Miss Randall?"

"No… that's not what I meant… I…"

"There's no use to hide it, Kirsty… we know about your past in England… so, I'm gonna ask this just once: what happened today… does it have anything to do with England?"

Kirsty couldn't hold Gibbs intense stare and she returned her attention to the smooth silver surface of the table.

It wasn't pity was Gibbs felt for her; at least not anymore. Her blonde hair was a little messy; the small amount of mascara she had been wearing had smudged under her eyes, which blue irises were surrounded by small red veins revealing the emotional pain she had been under for the past hours.

"What do you want from me?"

"The truth, Kirsty. Just the truth"

"I already told you the truth: I didn't kill Andrew! I'm not a murderer!" She cried

"Help us prove you're not… why did you returned to the house?"

"I… I needed some stuff…"

"Don't lie to me… one of my agents found your passport inside your bag" Kirsty looked back down

"Yes… I went to look for my passport… but I didn't mean to leave the country… I'm about to get my permanent residence… it would be stupid"

"You didn't answer my question about the crime… did it have anything to do with the events that took place in England 2 years ago?"

"I… I don't know! I didn't see anyone! I… he came to see me… to talk to me and… everything happened so fast…" Kirsty blurted out covering her face with her hands

"Ok… calm down… tell me everything, from the beginning"

Behind the 2 way mirror, Tim looked at Ziva who raised her eyebrows at the scene inside the interrogation room.

"What do you think?" McGee asked

"I do not believe she's lying but we've met people just like that and later we discover they've been lying to us from the beginning… there's no way to tell" Ziva replied without taking her eyes off Gibbs and Kirsty

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the elevator on their way to the 7th floor, Tony and Liz waited in silence but looked at each other with small wicked smiles plastered on their faces.

"What are you thinking about?" Liz asked

"The Blues Alley" Tony simply replied

"Ah, yes… that was a good night"

"We should do it again… sometime… since you're here…"

"Did you just ask me out on a date, DiNozzo?" Liz questioned smiling wider

"Would that be so bad?" Tony said leaning against the elevator wall

"Rule #12, Tony…"

"You don't work here… at least not officially…"

"Apparently I'm gonna be working here for the next few days… or weeks… or… who knows…"

"Why does it feel like you're just trying to find an excuse not to go out with me?"

Suddenly, Liz went completely serious. He was probably right but she wasn't about to accept it.

"You're imagining things, Tony…" Was the only answer she could think of

Thankfully, the elevator halted and the doors opened, revealing the NCIS' bullpen. Without waiting for Tony's reply, Liz walked out of the elevator and towards the set of 4 desks already known to her.

McGee and Gibbs were there and as the latter noticed Liz's presence, he stood up from his chair, approached to her and greeted her with a light hug.

"Welcome back, Liz" He said

"Thank you, Gibbs… how have you been?"

"Busy… and I'm guessing so have you"

"That, I have" She smiled

"Come, I'll take you where our suspect is" Gibbs said and Liz nodded "Good job, DiNozzo"

"Thanks, boss" Tony replied with pride as Liz and Gibbs walked away

"Who's that?" McGee asked

"Oh, yes, I forgot you weren't here yet when I first met her…" Tony said still smiling "Her name is Elizabeth… Special SAS Agent Elizabeth M. Hadley, to be precise"

"SAS Agent?" Tim questioned

"Special Air force Service Agent" Ziva answered McGee's question

"And that's… big?" McGee continued, confused

"Big? Oh, Probie, you're so lucky Gibbs took her away… being an SAS agent is not big… is HUGE!" Tony mocked

"But why? Isn't the SAS like any other agency?"

"Not really…" Ziva interfered

"So, it is like Mossad, then" McGee said

"Mmm, no… actually, the SAS has served as reference point to practically all of Mossad's techniques and strategies" Ziva explained

"Wow… so she's… worse than Ziva?" McGee asked in shock

"Probably… but Liz has a better temper" Tony said

Ziva didn't say anything. She just walked closer to Tony and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ouch… see, Probie? Better temper" Tony laughed as Ziva returned to her desk and McGee just shook his head

* * *

Liz and Gibbs stood behind the 2 way mirror analyzing Kirsty.

"What do you see?" Gibbs asked

"Well, she hasn't changed a bit, I can assure you that… but… I don't know… I don't think she's lying"

"Why do you sound so doubtful?"

"Mmm… you see, when we started the investigation in London, we found some inconsistencies in her statement… well, actually, statement**S**"

"She had to declare more than once?"

"She never went to the trial. Let me explain this… We were investigating a Russian entrepreneur Dmitri Vasiliev, as I assume you know" Gibbs nodded "It says in the report that she was related to him. The truth is that she was romantically involved with him. They were engaged. This man, Vasiliev was charged with 2 accounts of murder and at first we thought Kirsty, here had had something to do with those murders but she didn't and like I told Tony, she wasn't even booked" She made a pause to look at Kirsty "The problem with Vasiliev was that he was a very wealthy man and after bribing the judge, he was exonerated from every charged made against him"

"What happened with him?"

"Well, no one knows for sure. We tried to keep track of him but, being the terrorist he is; we were never able to find him. My superiors insisted on the theory that he returned to Russia but I never believed that… I think he came to the States… looking for her"

"So he is a terrorist…"

"Yes… after the case was closed, Kirsty moved to the States fearing Vasiliev would try to kill her if she stayed in London and I continued investigating"

"I was hoping you'd say that… what did you discover?"

"Dmitri Vasiliev is not his real name. I found out about this because after the trial, when he disappeared, his identity, his bank accounts, drivers licence, even passport disappeared… as if Dmitri Vasiliev had never existed"

"And why were you so sure about Kirsty's innocence back then?"

"I never said I were…" She smiled at Gibbs and he smiled back "But other apart her romantic relationship with Vasiliev, there was nothing else that linked her to any of his crimes. She knew nothing about the murders"

"Who did he kill?" Gibbs inquired

"Directly? No one…"

"But you just said…"

"I know… but he was just the intellectual author of both of the crimes we were investigating…" Liz said and closed her eyes trying to remember "If my memory isn't all that bad, I think the names of the men he killed were Matthew Jackson and Paul Morris… they were MI5 agents who had infiltrated in Vasiliev's circle"

"He discovered who they were and had them killed" Gibbs deduced

"Exactly…"

"So, what do you think of her?"

"I was reading Ducky's report in the car and I surprised when I saw the COD. Punctured heart… that is something one of Vasiliev's men used to do"

"With a copper weapon?"

"It's a cylindrical copper dagger and that's definitely your murder weapon"

"So, you're saying Vasiliev sent one of his men to kill her"

"That's my theory, yes…"

"What do you think we should do?"

"Agent Gibbs is asking ME what to do?" Liz repeated in shock

"Very funny, Liz… yes, I am…"

Liz returned her look to Kirsty.

"Let me talk to her…"

Gibbs didn't say anything else. He nodded and Liz exited the observation room. Outside, she found Tony, Ziva and McGee, practically eavesdropping.

"If you want to hear anything, go in there" She simply said walking past them and entering the interrogation room.

The other 3 agents exchanged quizzical looks and walked into the observation room.

"Boss, Liz said…" Tony started

"Silence" Gibbs ordered, his full attention on Liz and Kirsty

"Hello, Kirsty…" Liz greeted

Kirsty knew that voice. She looked up and widened her eyes with surprise and she recognized Liz.

"Agent Hadley" She gasped

"Good, you remember me" Liz said leaning against the wall "How have you been?"

"I've been both worse and better… what are you doing here?"

"I came to help…"

"Me?"

"I don't know yet… if you want me to help you, you're gonna have to help me first"

"Please, agent Hadley, I already told agent Gibbs I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't kill Andrew"

"Strangely enough I believe you, Kirsty…" Liz said and sat in front of Kirsty "But I want to know everything… and everything I mean everything you didn't tell agent Gibbs"

"Like what?"

"You know who killed Cpl. Collins, don't you?"

"No…" Kirsty shook her head but didn't look at Liz in the eye

"Now, you see, Kirsty? I can tell when you're lying and you're lying to me right now…" Liz said standing up maintaining her calm demeanour "Who killed Cpl. Collins?"

"I don't know…"

"Cpl. Collins was killed with a cylindrical copper dagger and I believe you know who uses that weapon…" Liz stopped for a moment "You know me, Kirsty. I did everything in my power to help you in England but we are not in England anymore and this time they are coming after you. I you don't help me, I can't help you"

"But… I can't say anything… he'll find me!"

"He won't if we find him first!" Liz exclaimed and slammed her fist on the table "Tell me, who killed Cpl. Collins?!"

"I… his name is Ilya Smirnov… he used to be one of Dmitri's assassins… I didn't see him but… I'm sure it was him" Kirsty said almost in a whisper

"Thank you, Kirsty" Liz said and rushed out of the interrogation room

Inside the observation room, McGee turned to look at Tony and Gibbs "She's good"

"Oh, yes" Both senior agents replied in unison and Liz entered the room

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" She joked

"Now what?" Ziva asked

"Now we go looking for Ilya Smirnov" Gibbs said

"And what if she's lying?" McGee said

"We'll soon find out, won't we?" Liz said "I'm going to see Abby… I need to ask her a favour, of course, that is if you don't mind, Gibbs"

"No… go ahead… take McGee with you"

Liz nodded "C'mon, Probie" She said and after rolling his eyes, McGee followed her out of the room

"What are we going to do about her, Gibbs?" Ziva asked nodding in Kirsty's direction

"We'll keep her here… at least until we've found Smirnov and we can confirm her statement…" Gibbs replied and walked to the door "Keep an eye on here, I'm going out" And with that he left

"He's usually tougher with the suspects, isn't he?" Ziva pointed out

"Yeah… well, she isn't a red head, I don't believe he fancies her"

"Are you always thinking about… that, Tony?" Ziva asked waving her arms in the air

"About what?"

"Never mind… by the way… if agent Hadley works for the SAS, why was she here in D.C.?"

"She's hardly ever in the UK… she travels a lot and she happened to be here… why do you ask?"

"Mmm… for nothing… pay no attention to me… I'm going upstairs to make a report. Don't let her out of your sight" Ziva said and left Tony alone

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the elevator…

"I do not believe we've been properly introduced" Liz said to McGee as soon as the doors had closed "I'm Elizabeth… Elizabeth Hadley" She introduced herself stretching her hand out to him

"Timothy McGee… McGee or… Tim…" He replied nervously shaking her hand

"It's nice to meet you, Tim… please, call me Liz" She smiled at him and he smiled back "You were working with Gibbs when I helped him with a case 2 years ago, weren't you?"

"I… I suppose so but you didn't come to the office, did you?"

"No… I had come before but not the last time I came… you are the computer genius, aren't you?" McGee looked at her confused "Gibbs has told me about you… and sorry about the Probie thing a moment ago… I've heard Tony call you like that… I promise I won't do it again"

"It's ok… I'm kinda used to it…"

"I tell you what: I'll slap Tony in the head each time he calls you like that… deal?"

McGee chuckled but agreed "Deal…"

"McGee! I've been waiting for someone to come and…" Abby yelled as the elevator doors opened but stopped as she noticed Liz "Liz!" She shouted and ran to hug her

"Hey, Abs" Liz replied hugging her back

"Oh my God! Why hadn't anyone told me you were here?"

"I just arrived and I went straight to interrogation so…"

"Oh well, in that case, I forgive you… are you here just to visit or…?"

"No… I wish I could say that because I know I've neglected you guys a lot lately but I came because Gibbs, well… Tony called" Liz explained as they walked into the lab

"Because of the case we're working on?" Liz nodded "Ok, well, then I suppose I can tell you what I've found… I've indentified another of the 3 sets of fingerprints…"

"Ilya Smirnov?" McGee asked

"Yes! How did you know? McGee, you just pulled a Gibbs!" Abby exclaimed and McGee wiggled his eyebrows proudly

"What else have you got?" Liz asked

"Well, this is very interesting… I found some blood in the copper traces Ducky sent me, apart from our dead corporal blood… I ran them and I discovered the blood belongs to another man… I'm running the test right now…"

"But the weapon was used to kill a man, the corporal…" McGee mentioned the obvious as his cell phone rang and he walked out of the lab

"It was probably used to kill someone else" Liz said

"Sounds sloppy" Abby remarked

"I don't believe our killer is the sloppy kind…" She said and checked if McGee was still out "Abby… can I ask you to run a search on someone?" Liz asked

"Yeah, of course"

"I need you to investigate someone by the name Natalya Tereshchenko"

"Ok, what do you need?"

"Anything you can find… it's very important… and… I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Gibbs or anyone else about this" Abby nodded with hesitation "Thanks Abs. Keep me informed" Liz said and rushed out of the lab, leaving McGee behind

"What was that?" Tim asked as he walked back into the lab

"Uhmm… nothing… who called you?"

"Ziva. She wants me to take our suspect to the conference room"

"Well, then, don't keep her waiting… go, go!"

"Ok, ok, I'm going!" He said and left

* * *

Upstairs, Ziva made a few phone calls and got some of the information she was looking for and she wasn't going to reveal it to anyone until she had everything.

"Hey… Ziva, right?" Liz asked walking into the bullpen

"Yes… Liaison Officer Ziva David"

"Mossad" Liz said

"That is correct"

"I'm Agent Elizabeth Hadley"

"I know. What can I do for you?" Ziva asked glaring at Liz

"Do you know where I can find Gibbs?"

"He went out" Ziva dryly replied

"I see… well… in case he asks, I went out too" Liz said and walked away

"Hey, Liz! Wait up!" Tony called catching up with her

"Tony, what about Kirsty?" Ziva asked as Tony got into the elevator along with Liz

"Take care of her, ok?" He said and the doors closed

"Sure… why not?" Ziva said to herself as she rolled her eyes

"Where are we going?" Tony asked once the elevator started moving

"We?"

"Yes, we…"

"I am going to talk to a source and you?"

"I am coming with you"

"No, you're not"

"What? You're gonna stop me?"

"You know I could"

"And you know I'm not gonna let you go by yourself"

Liz sighed and rolled her eyes "Am I gonna get away with mine?" Tony shook his head "Alright… but you do exactly what I say, ok?"

"Yes, ma'am!" He said saluting her and making her laugh.

* * *

**Well, my darling, that was it for today... or wasn't it?  
This time I'm probably posting more later because I might be left without internet for a few days in the next few day so I'm gonna try to post as much as I can before the tragedy occurs.**

**Anyways, I want to thank margerinebutterfly and gloworm41 for their reviews and the many people who have added me or my story to their favorites. MWAH!!!**

**So, please, keep reading, it's gonna get a lot more interesting, I promise. Oh, and keep R&Ring!**

**Koo Koo Kah Choo, my dears!!!  
xoxo**


	5. Chapter 4: You Speak Russian?

**Good day, peeps!**

**I know I said I would post more later yesterday but you know what? I'm gonna stop making promise I have no control over. My computer kept shutting off and I didn't want to force it.****Anywhoooo.... Here comes Chapter 4, I hope you enjoy it and thanks again for the adds and the reviews, keep them coming!**

**Blah blah blah... diclaimers... blah blah blah... CBS... blah blah blah... Donald P. Bellisario... blah blah blah...****I own Kirsty, Elizabeth, Liev, Ilya, Vasiliev and I think that's about it... at least for this chapter.**

**ENJOY!!! :)**

**CHAPTER 4**

A few miles away, at Meridian Park, Gibbs approached to a bench and sat next to a bald angry looking man.

"What can the CIA do for NCIS today, agent Gibbs?" Trent Kort asked

"I need the confidential files of these 3 people" Gibbs said handing him a piece of paper with 3 names written down

"Easier said than done"

"Are you insinuating your skills are failing?"

"Don't be stupid, Gibbs…" Kort retorted taking the paper "I heard Elizabeth Hadley is in town"

"Where did you hear that?"

"Do you need to ask?"

"When did she arrive?" Gibbs asked

"Two nights ago… from a direct flight from Moscow, one scale in Seattle"

"Moscow?"

"Yes… you seem surprised"

Gibbs stood up "I am not… call me when you have what I need"

"Sure, Gibbs, sure…"

As he walked back to his car, Gibbs couldn't help to wonder what had Liz been doing in Moscow precisely now that they were after a Russian terrorist and why she happened to arrive one day before the attack on Kirsty.

He took his phone out and dialled to the office.

"Hello?" Ziva answered

"Ziva, I need to speak to Liz"

"She's not here, Gibbs. She left about fifteen minutes ago"

"Did she say where she was going?"

"No, but she didn't go alone. Tony left with her"

Without saying anything else, Gibbs hung up and thought for a moment before starting the car and driving away.

* * *

"Excuse me…" Kirsty shyly said to McGee "Do you think I could… have a glass of water?"

"Yes, of course…" McGee replied standing up and walking towards the small table at the other side of the conference room, where Kirsty had been moved to "Here you go" He said handing her the water

"Thank you…" Kirsty said softly and took a sip of the water "Has agent Hadley work with you for long?"

"No, actually she doesn't work here… she… comes and goes… as I understand"

"Oh… so she just came because of this case?"

"I think so… why do you ask?"

"For nothing… agent Gibbs will find the man who killed Andrew, won't he?"

"We hope so…" Tim replied and noticed Kirsty's disappointment "But don't worry. Gibbs is the best agent I've ever met and for what I've heard about agent Hadley, you've got the best agents working on your case…"

"Agent Hadley is who worries me" She muttered

"Why?"

"Well… I fear she might be biased… because she knows the details of the case in England"

"I think I understand but… I don't believe that's the case with agent Hadley"

"I hope you're right…" Kirsty said not very convinced

* * *

"So, who are we going to see?" Tony asked

"I am going to talk to a friend… YOU are staying in the car" Liz replied as Tony pulled over a few blocks away from the Capitol

"But…" He tried to protest

"No, Tony. The condition for you to come was that you'd stay in the car and you agreed. Now be a grown up and do as you're told"

"Liz… I can't let…"

"Just shut up and let me do my job, ok?" She said and got out of the car

It was once she was 100 yards away from the car that he noticed she wasn't carrying her gun.

He opened the glove compartment and found it there.

"Damn it, Liz!" He exclaimed and rushed out of the car

Meanwhile, Liz stood in a corner waiting for her source to arrive.

"Have you been waiting for long?" A man asked standing behind Liz

"No… what have you got for me, Liev?" Liz asked without turning to see him

"Vasiliev is in D.C."

"When did he arrive?"

"Four days ago and he wasn't alone…" Liev said and handed Liz an envelope with a dozen photographs

She opened it and analyzed the pictures. They were snap shots of Dmitri Vasiliev at Dulles Airport being received by a man she immediately recognized.

"Who is the man in the car?" She asked as she passed to the next picture where a man in a car helped the other 2 with the luggage. The man had a large scar across his right cheek

"We've identified him as Smirnov…"

"Ilya Smirnov…" Liz completed looking up

"Yes… do you know him?"

"Not personally… do you know where Vasiliev is staying?"

"No… he's using a different identity and not a Russian one, that's for sure" Liev replied "**Они не просто ищет Kirsty Randall, Элизабет и я полагаю, вы это знаете **_(They are not just looking for Kirsty Randall, Elizabeth and I believe you know it)_" He said walking closer to her

"**Я предполагал, он****...** _(__I__was__assuming__it__…)_"

"**Почему вы не остановили, когда у Вас был шанс?**_(__Why didn't you stop when you had the chance?)_"

"**Я****в****долгу****перед****Джексоном****и****Моррис** _(I owe it to Jackson and Morris)_"

"**А****для****себя****?** _(And to yourself?)_"

"**Они убили снова и на этот раз за свою** _(They've killed again and this time one for their own…)_"

"**Что лучше причин оставить дело? Пусть****они****убивают****друг****с****другом** _(What a better reason to leave the case? Let__them__kill__among__each__other__)_"

"**Почему вы хотите, чтобы оставить дело, Лив? Что****вы****получаете****?** _(Why do you want me to leave the case, Liev? What do you gain?)_" Liz asked finally turning to face him

Liev was a very tall man with light blue eyes and dark brown hair. His strong features could've made any other person lose all confidence. He must've been about 36 years old, although Liz had never asked him his exact age.

"**Не****делайте****мне****быть****одному****, ****чтобы****вытащить****тебя****дела****, ****Элизабет** _(Don't make me be the one to pull you out of the case, Elizabeth)_" Liev said pressing the barrel of his gun against her chin

"**Я думал, мы договорились, никакого оружия** _(__I__thought__we__agreed__no__weapons__)_" She said

"**Да, ну ... Вы не должны доверять людям так легко ... так, как вам агентом доверия Гиббса или агента DiNozzo** _(__Yeah__, __well__… __you__shouldn__'__t__trust__people__so__easily__… __just__the__way__you__trust__agent__Gibbs__or__agent__DiNozzo__)_"

Tony's body tensed as he saw the man threatening to kill Liz. He had followed her and hid behind the nearest car careful of not being seen. He wasn't at all surprised by Liz's calm demeanour but he wasn't like that and he was not about to let his friend get killed. Thankfully the street was practically deserted.

"NCIS! Drop your weapon!" He instructed aiming his gun at Liev

"Tony, I thought I'd said: stay in the car!" Liz shouted at him

"Yeah, well… you know me, now…" He looked at Liev "Put the gun down"

"Well, if it isn't special agent DiNozzo" Liev said still pointing his gun at Liz

"I don't believe we've been introduced and I don't believe I want to… PUT THE GUN DOWN!"

"Now I see why you trust him…" Liev said to Liz and lowered his gun "**Он****, ****кажется****, ****хороший****парень** _(He seems to be a nice guy)_"

"**Он****так****не****игр****...** _(He is so no games…)_" She said half smiling at Liev

"No games then… I'll be in touch" Liev said, nodded at Tony and walked away

Liz turned around to see Tony who just looked at her as if she was crazy. She approached to him and walked by him towards the car.

"Are you coming?" She simply asked while Tony stared at her gobsmacked

"What was that?" He asked in a squeaky voice as he got inside the car

"What was what?"

"THAT! That guy was pointing a gun at you and you just said goodbye and let him go!" Tony said starting the car

"Calm down, Tony… he's… a friend… sort of… and he gave me very interesting information" She replied calmly "Besides, you had no right to interfere"

"But… but… he was going to shoot you… and you left your gun in the car! What did you expect me to do? Sit and watch?"

"I expect you to trust me! Is that so damn hard to do, Anthony?" Now Liz was beginning to lose her temper

"You could have died, Elizabeth! I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you, don't you understand?!"

"Since when do you call me Elizabeth?" she yelled at him

"Since you started calling me Anthony!" He answered in the same tone

Then they both went silent and moments later, they both started laughing.

"I'm sorry" Tony said "I should've trusted you"

"I know you do and I'm sorry for being this mysterious… it's just… I can't even talk about it… I'm sorry" She replied

"No, I understand…" He said, took her hand and gave it a light squeeze "But I want to ask you something…"

"Shoot"

"Would you go out with me?"

"What?" Liz asked chuckling "You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not… I want you to go out on a date with me before you get yourself killed…"

"Wow, that's optimistic…"

"No… I… I mean… we hardly ever get to see each other and…"

"Tony… are you speechless?"

"I believe I am…" He looked down at his hands and then back up at her "Please… it won't hurt anyone…"

"If it doesn't go right it will hurt both of us"

"Why wouldn't it go right?"

"If we are completely honest, we don't really know each other all that well"

"That's what dates are for"

"I know but…"

"You seriously don't want to go out with me, do you?"

"No, Tony… is not that…"

"Like I said this morning: it seems like you're just trying to find an excuse"

"I'm… ok, maybe I am but it's not you…"

"Oh, so you're gonna tell me: it's not you, it's me? Do you have any idea of how many times I've used that line with girls?"

"So it's not gonna work?"

"Nope…"

"Tony, you've just said it yourself. You're used to date girls and never call them back…" He was about to interrupt but Liz continued "Or… you date multiple women at the same time and I'm no the kind of woman who accepts that"

"Do you want absolute fidelity?"

"Something like it…"

"Alright… you've got it"

"What?"

"If you go out with me… several times… you know like a…" Tony stopped just by thinking about the word

"Relationship?" Liz completed half smiling and Tony pretended to shiver at the word

"Yes… a relationship… if we start that, I'll give you my absolute fidelity"

"Alright… one date… just one date and we'll see how it goes, ok?"

"Sounds fair to me…"

In that moment, Liz's phone rang.

"Hadley… hey, Gibbs…"

"Liz, where are you?"

"I'm in the car with Tony. We're on our way to the office, why?"

"I need to talk to you"

"Ok… we'll be there in 15 minutes" And she hung up "Gibbs wants to talk"

"Mmm, do you think he knows about our date?" Tony joked

"Being how he is, it wouldn't surprise me…"

"By the way… you speak Russian?"

"Yes…"

"Since when?" He asked and she laughed as they drove to NCIS

* * *

**That was it, people!**

**Thanks for reading, I'm in kind of a rush lol  
So R&R people!!!  
**

**See you around!!!  
Koo Koo Kah Choo!  
xoxo**

**PS. Once again, sorry for the bad Russian ;)**


	6. Chapter 5: I don't wanna die!

**People!!! I'm so sorry I was gone for so long!!! I was internetless for almost 3 weeks!!! BUAAAAAAAAAA!!!  
But now I'm back! Yay!!!**

**Usual disclaimers: I'm poor therefor I can't own anything and even if I could I don't think I could buy Mr. Weatherly since he's not in sale BUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! So, blah blah blah, Mr. Bellisario and CBS and blah blah blah...**

**So, without further ado... *drum roll***

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER 5**

Back at NCIS, Tony and Liz walked into the bullpen. Gibbs gave Liz one of his 'looks' and after exchanging looks with Tony and receiving one nasty look from Ziva, Liz followed Gibbs out of the bullpen and back into the elevator.

Once inside, Gibbs pressed the 'emergency stop' button and the lights went off as the elevator stopped.

"Why are you here?" He asked dryly

"Because… you called me?" Liz replied not sure if that was the answer he was looking for

"No… why are you here?"

'That wasn't' She thought "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean! You arrived to D.C. 2 nights ago… from Moscow. Would you mind explaining that to me?"

"I was in Moscow… so what?"

"Exactly 2 days before a woman who was once involved in a case against Russian terrorists got almost killed? A case you led in London? Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Of course not… but I cannot give you any details about whatever it is I'm working on"

"Do you expect me to settle with that answer?"

"No, I don't but I expect you to understand and wait until I can tell you about it…"

"I want to trust you, Liz…"

"Then trust me, Gibbs… I'm here to help"

"Alright, Liz… but I want answers and I want them soon"

"You'll get them, I promise"

Gibbs then pressed the 'emergency' button again and the doors opened. He let her out first and then followed.

"Oh, I almost forgot… I got something you might find interesting" Liz said as they headed back to Gibbs' desk "Here…" She pulled out one of the pictures from the envelope and gave it to Gibbs

"That's our dead guy!" Tony exclaimed

"Cpl. Andrew Collins… and…"

"Dmitri Vasiliev" Gibbs said

"Then the other guy must be Smirnov" McGee pointed out

"Good one, Probie" Tony said and Liz slapped him in the back of the head "Ouch! What was that for?"

"Nothing in particular" Liz said and winked at McGee who couldn't help smiling

"McGee, what have you got on Ilya Smirnov?" Gibbs asked and Tim opened a file straight on the big screen

"Ilya Boris Smirnov. Born in Sverdlovsk. No permanent residence place but I was able to find a flight reservation made under his name from Moscow to D.C. 2 weeks ago and he entered the country with a tourist visa"

"Do you know where he's staying?" Liz asked

"No. No records. He doesn't seem to have credit cards although I managed to find an account in Zurich National Bank under the name of Boris Smirnov and, check this out, someone recently made a transference… a big one" McGee explained

"How big?" Ziva asked

"Huge! $800,000.00"

"When?" Tony questioned

"This very morning"

"The transference was made from D.C."

"Whoever sent Smirnov to kill Kirsty is here" Liz said

"It has to be Vasiliev" Tony agreed

"Don't you have a name, McGee?" Gibbs inquired

"Just a sec, boss"

"McGee" Gibbs insisted

"I… I got it! Luka Volkov"

"Who's that?!" Tony asked

"No idea" Liz said although it wasn't totally true. She had a clue of who Luka Volkov could be but until she was absolutely sure about it, she was not going to tell anyone

"And what about Cpl. Collins?" McGee asked

The team made their deductions about Collins and after hitting the keyboard a few times, McGee got the information they needed to confirm their theories.

* * *

While Liz and Tony went through the pictures Liev had given Liz, McGee kept working on Smirnov and Volkov's backgrounds and Ziva made a little investigation of her own, Gibbs went to the conference room to talk to Kirsty and let her know the truth about Cpl. Collins.

"Miss Randall" He said walking in

"Agent Gibbs!" She exclaimed and standing up surprised by seeing him there

"Please sit down" He requested and she obliged "I have a few things to tell you and I do not believe they will be easy to cope with"

"I believe I'm ready for almost anything"

"Ok, here it goes… Cpl. Collins was a member of the US Navy, yes but when he was in Afghanistan he met a Russian entrepreneur called Dmitri Vasiliev who I believe, you know quite well" Kirsty nodded "When Collins came back to D.C. you met him 'by chance' and you 2 started dating. All of this happened because Vasiliev was paying Collins to spy you and to give him and his men your exact location"

"I only dated him for about 2 weeks… I never felt anything for him and I never trusted him…"

"He wanted to get back with you, didn't he? Because if he failed Vasiliev either he got killed or lost his 'allowance'…"

"I never trusted him" She repeated covering her face with her hands "That's how I knew who killed him. I know how Dmitri works and I did get to meet some of his men… I knew it was related… that's why I ran away! I left my house because I was scared! I am scared but if I had stayed Smirnov would've come back to finish the job!"

"Did you see Smirnov before he left?" Gibbs asked

"Yes…" Kirsty said and closed her eyes trying to remember exactly what had happened "After I pushed Andrew's body off of me I ran to the door and I saw Smirnov standing next to his car, looking at me. He raised his dagger as if saying 'you are next'. He got in his car and drove away"

"What car does he drive?"

"It was… black… a black sedan… not new… must be from the 80's" Kirsty recollected as accurately as she could

"It's probably rented. He wouldn't risk stealing one"

"These men… they are capable of anything and they don't really care about the consequences… you might want to investigate any 1980's black sedan thefts within the past 2 weeks" Kirsty recommended and Gibbs was nicely surprised by her reply

"Where are you staying?" He asked

"In a motel, in Cheverly"

"That's not a very safe place to stay at" Gibbs said

"It's the only place I can afford"

"Alright… We'll escort you there and make sure you're safe, let's go"

"I am not arrested anymore?" Kirsty asked confused

"You were never arrested, Miss Randall. C'mon" He motioned her to stand up and follow him out of the conference room

They walked out of there and headed to the bullpen.

"Are we done yet, boss?" Tony asked

"Not yet but we'll call it the day" Gibbs said as he noticed how dark the sky was outside "McGee, go with Abby and retrieve all the new information she might have. Ziva, DiNozzo, Liz, you're with me"

The three agents followed Gibbs and Kirsty towards the elevator and went down to the main entrance of Washington Navy Yard.

"Ziva, get the car. You're driving tonight" He instructed

"What? No, boss! I don't wanna die! I have a date tonight!" Tony whined

"Bad luck, Tony" Ziva mocked and went to get the car

"Excuse us…" Liz told Gibbs and Kirsty and pulled Tony aside "What are you doing?" She asked slapping him in the back of the head

"Ouch! What?"

"Why did you say you have a date?! Now Gibbs is gonna figure it out and deduce your date was with me!"

"Nah! There's no way he can possibly know…" They both turned to look at Gibbs who shot them a deadly look "Is there?"

"I want to thank you, agent Gibbs… you don't really have to do this" Kirsty said while Tony and Liz talked

"There's no problem, Miss Randall… you are being targeted and this is our job" Gibbs said trying to smile at her

"Kirsty…" She corrected

"I'm sorry?"

"Stop calling me Miss Randall… call me Kirsty"

"Ok… Kirsty…"

"Well, anyways, thank you, I really appreciate it" She repeated

Then, out of nowhere, a bullet hit one of the windows behind Kirsty and Gibbs pulled her downwards and protected her with his body.

"DiNozzo! Liz!" He called pulling his gun out just like his agents as they rushed towards him and Kirsty "The other side of the street!"

Tony and Liz looked up at the opposite sidewalk and saw Ilya Smirnov pointing a large gun at them. He shot once more and they ducked to avoid getting hit. Smirnov then started running down Sicard Street and both Liz and Tony ran after him.

"Are you ok?" Gibbs asked Kirsty who was shaking but managed to nod. He took his cell phone out and speed dialled Ziva "Ziva! Smirnov attacked. Tony and Liz are after him on foot southwest down New Jersey Ave.!" He informed

"On my way" Ziva replied driving out of the parking lot as fast as she could

Meanwhile, Liz and Tony ran as velocious as their legs allowed them. Liz beat Tony and got ahead.

"Boss! He's heading to the Navy Yard subway station!" Tony reported Gibbs by cell phone as he continued following Liz and Smirnov.

Liz could see how Smirnov made his way through the mass of people towards the Subway station Entrance. She followed him inside and was forced to push the people put of her way to be able to catch up with him.

"Move, people, move!" She could hear Tony shouting behind her

They rushed down the escalator pushing people aside and receiving multiple complaints. Once they got to one of the platforms, Liz saw how Smirnov turned to the left and ran into a deserted tunnel.

In the moment she was about to turn after him, he stopped and shot at her, grazing her shoulder with the bullet.

"Ahh!" She exclaimed, starting to bleed slightly and pressing her back against the wall

"Liz! Are you ok?" Tony asked catching up with her

"I'm fine! Go!" She said and he did as she told

Tony kept running after Smirnov and Liz just ripped the bottom edge of her white shirt and tied it around the wound enduring the stinging pain. Once she recovered her breath, she continued the hunting and ran after Tony.

She could hear his footsteps from afar and followed the sound.

At the same time, Tony had almost caught up with Smirnov but the latter began shooting at Tony's direction, making him stop and look for coverage.

"There's no point in hiding, agent DiNozzo" Smirnov said

"There's no point in running, Smirnov!" Tony replied leaning forward and shooting in Smirnov's direction

The Russian assassin said no more and shot no more. Tony carefully stepped out of his hiding place and looked for Smirnov in the dark, abandoned platform.

Liz caught up with him. Tony nodded at her and motioned her to go to the other side. Once they both got to the edge of the platform, they heard a strange thudding sound.

"What was that?" Tony saw Liz mouth at him

"No idea… it came from the tunnel" He replied and nodded at her agreeing with the fact that they had to follow him

They jumped down to the tracks and Liz cringed with pain from her wound.

"You ok?" Tony asked and she nodded reassuring him to go on

With their weapons targeting everything in front of them, they cautiously walked forward.

"**Что это, агенты? ****Разве вы не видите в темноте? **_(What is it, agents? Can't you see in the dark?)_" Smirnov said not very far from them

"What is he saying?" Tony asked

"He's making fun of us. He just asked if we can't see in the dark" Liz translated

Tony then tripped with something and as he looked down, with the dim red light he saw the weapon Smirnov had shot Kirsty and Liz with moments before.

"He's unarmed" He told Liz

"That's odd…" She whispered but they kept advancing

Then, the sight in front of them paralyzed them.

Smirnov was barefoot, balancing himself on one of the tracks, dancing mockingly.

"Ilya Smirnov, you're under arrest for the count of murder in first degree" Tony said aiming his gun at him

"**Вы действительно думаете, что я упаду в сеть американских коррупции?**"

"Do you really think I will fall into the net of the American corruption?" Liz translated "**Кто****вас****послал****? **_(Who sent you?)_"

"**Я** **служу****причинить****больше****, ****чем****мужчин**_(I serve a greater cause than men)_" He replied and stood in only his right foot "**Американский** **тирании****будет****побежден****! **_(The American tyranny will be defeated!)_"

And then, to Liz's and Tony's shock, he moved his left foot towards the other track and it was as if everything moved in slow motion. In the moment Smirnov's foot touched the iron track, an electrical current was set off and ran through his body electrocuting him and killing him instantly.

"Down!" Tony shouted and pulled Liz downwards and held her covering from any spark that might fly around them

Once Smirnov's body hit the ground, the electrical mayhem ended and Tony sat up.

"Liz… are you…?" He asked noticing that her arm was bleeding more than before because of the impact against the ground

"I'm… fine…" She managed to say with gritted teeth "Smirnov?" Tony shook his head "We have to call Gibbs…"

Tony stood up and helped Liz up as well.

"Boss" He said calling Gibbs "We're in one of the inactive lines of the subway. One turn to the left of the main line, in the tunnel"

"What happened?" Gibbs asked

"Liz got shot in the arm and Smirnov killed himself by stepping on the tracks"

"Alright… we'll be right there and I'll call an ambulance. Stay where you are" He instructed and hung up

"The help is coming, Liz. Hang in there" He said holding her

"It's just a scratch, Tony, don't worry so much" Liz replied and winced a little

"Yeah, right…" He said and sighed sadly

"What is it?"

"I suppose the date is off…"

"Who's making up excuses now?" Liz joked and cringed a little

"Don't move… the help will be here soon" Tony comforted avoiding the subject and Liz smiled to herself

* * *

**Like I've said before, I don't speak Russian so sorry for my crappy Russian (I don't even know if it's right... blame it all on the online translator ^_^)**

**Anywho... people, I'm working on a sequel that will be a crossover with NCIS: Los Angeles so, if you want to understand the next story, you have to keep reading this one.**

**Thank you so much for your patience and for keep reading it.**  
**R&R, peeps!!!**

**Koo Koo Kah Choo!!! xoxo**


	7. Chapter 6: Take Out Alla Tony

**Good morning, children!!! Ok, ok, afternoon... I got up late today lol  
I have nothing important to say today so as usual, I don't own anything, I'm empty handed, CBS and Mr. Bellisario blah blah blah... whatever... _  
**

**So, enjoy, kids!!! ;)**

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER 6**

"What happened?" Ziva asked running towards them, her gun in her hands

"Smirnov killed himself" Liz replied

"Why?"

"I suppose because he preferred death over surrender" Liz said

"What happened to you?"

"He shot at her" Tony said

"It's just a scratch" Liz repeated

"I thought an agent of your level would be more careful" Ziva snapped narrowing her eyes

"What is that supposed to mean?" Liz asked

"I think you know what it means..."

Liz stood up and pressing the wound in her arm, she approached to Ziva "What are you trying to say, officer, David? That I am not qualified for the job?"

"Maybe you are, maybe you are not... what I'm questioning is your loyalty" Ziva responded

Before Liz could reply, Tony came between them as he heard Gibbs and other agents approaching.

"Stop it, Ziva" Tony warned his colleague

Ziva didn't say anything. She walked away passing by Gibbs who called her with no avail.

"Are you alright, Liz?" Gibbs asked frowning with concern

"Yeah, I'm fine..." She said without taking her eyes of Ziva who had practically disappeared from sight

"What was that?" Gibbs questioned not oblivious to the conflict between Liz and Ziva

"Nothing, it was nothing... right, Tony?"

Tony hesitated before nodding "Yeah, it was nothing, boss"

"We'll talk about that later... let's take you to the ambulance first" He said trying to help her walk

"I was shot in the arm, Gibbs, not the leg... I can walk on my own"

Gibbs chuckled slightly and let Tony give support to Liz

They walked out of the inactive platform towards the active one which was crowded and many people looked at them with curiosity.

The other team that Gibbs had called stayed at the scene recollecting all the evidence and Smirnov's body which was going straight to Ducky's table.

Once outside the subway station, Tony took Liz to the ambulance which was already waiting for them.

"I have no plans of going to the hospital, Tony" Liz said

"At least let the paramedics take a look at the wound" He insisted

"Alright, then..."

She sat on the edge of the ambulance and let one of the paramedics check her wound.

"It's quite deep" He said "Maybe we should take you to the ER"

"No, I said I'm not going and I'm not going!"

"Ok... well, you're gonna need at least 3 stitches, if not a couple more" The paramedic said

"Whatever it takes to free me from going to the hospital" Liz said and Tony laughed "What?"

"You're so stubborn... I think you beat Gibbs in that department" He said

"Probably" Gibbs said walking to them "How are you doing?"

"For the gazillienth time, Gibbs: I'm fine... where's Kirsty? Ouch!" She complained as the paramedic started stitching the wound

"She's in the office, with McGee, Abby and a security agent"

"We can't let her stay at any hotel without constant surveillance" Liz said

"What do you propose?" Tony asked

"Maybe she should spend the night at a safe house or at some agent's place, just to be safe" Liz suggested

"I'll take her with me" Gibbs hurried to reply

"What? To where?" She asked

"To my place, where else?"

"Are you sure? Because if not, I can get her a room in the same hotel I'm staying at" Liz said

"NO! I mean... no... you just got shot... it wouldn't be... ethical... from Gibbs..." Tony interfered

Liz bit her bottom lip trying not to laugh and Gibbs just raised an eyebrow.

"It's ok, Liz. I'll take her with me... I don't believe she'd be safer anywhere else..." Gibbs said

"Ok... go ahead... I'll just let this gentle..." Liz stopped at the word and glanced at the paramedic "...paramedic finish here and I'll head home, if you don't mind"

"Sure, Liz, get well. I'm gonna need you at your best tomorrow morning" Gibbs smiled and turned to Tony "Make sure she gets there safe and sound, DiNozzo"

"Yes, boss" Tony said and they watched Gibbs walk away "Uhmm... Liz, about our date..."

"Well, I'm not really in the mood for going out... but that doesn't mean we can't have our date"

"How about if we go to my place, have some take out 'alla Tony' and watch a movie? I'll drive you to your hotel later, what do you say?"

"I like the sound of that..." Liz said and heard the paramedic giggling and she slapped him in the back of the head "Stop laughing and finish your job!" She said and Tony cracked up laughing

* * *

Meanwhile, at NCIS, Gibbs pulled over in front of the building, got out and walked into the Yard, where Kirsty was waiting for him flanked by McGee, Abby and the security agent.

"What happened, boss? Did they catch Smirnov?" McGee asked

"You could say that, although he's no longer useful to us..." Gibbs replied

"What do you mean?" Kirsty asked

"Smirnov killed himself before Liz and Tony could catch him" Gibbs explained

"What? And... they? How are they?" Abby questioned worried sick

"They are fine, Abs. Liz got shot in the arm but she's alright"

"Shot? How can she be alright if she got shot?!" Abby exclaimed

"The bullet just grazed her in the shoulder. She. Is. Fine" Gibbs repeated

"And what are we going to do about Smirnov, boss?" McGee asked

"There's nothing more we can do for him now, is there, McGee?" McGee shook his head "I'm gonna take Miss Randall to a safe place and I'll bring her back in the morning"

Abby, the security agent and McGee nodded in agreement.

"Come, Miss Randall" Gibbs said and Kirsty followed him

They walked to the car after making sure it was safe; got in and Gibbs drove away.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked

"To a safe place" Gibbs repeated without taking his eyes off the road

Once Kirsty looked away, Gibbs watched her from the corner of his eye. She seemed terribly nervous, fidgeting her hands which were shaking slightly.

His weakness for red heads seemed to be giving in. He felt strangely attracted to this woman. Maybe it was her frailty, maybe her vulnerability. Whatever it was, it was driving him crazy. He didn't feel in control of his emotions when he was around her; that was why he had let Liz interrogate her. He feared he wouldn't be objective and he certainly hadn't been objective by offering to take her to his own house.

They weren't even there yet and it was already a mistake.

"Idiot..." He mumbled

"I beg your pardon?" Kirsty asked not quite hearing what he had just said

"No, nothing..." He replied and then thought 'HUGE mistake'

20 minutes later, Gibbs parked in front of a 2 story house.

"Where are we?" She asked with curiosity

"Uhmm... at the safe place I mentioned..."

"I guessed that but... whose house is it?"

"Mine" Gibbs simply answered and was able to see, even in the dark of night how her cheeks turned a deep shade of red "It's the safest place we could think of" He rushed to say

"It must be the safest place in the world..." Kirsty said almost in a whisper and blushed even more

Gibbs couldn't think of anything else to say and got out of the car. He walked around it and opened the door for her.

They walked to the entrance and after Gibbs had unlocked the multiple locks, they entered.

He turned the lights on and Kirsty smiled at the sight of the house. It was homey and warm. She hadn't felt so well in a place in a very long time.

"Please, take a seat..." He said walking towards the kitchen "Can I get you anything? Water... Soda... Milk... Bourbon?"

"Bourbon would be nice, thank you" She said sitting on one of the living room couches "Your house... is very nice"

"Thank you..." He replied walking out of the kitchen with 2 glasses of liqueur in his hands

He handed one to her and kept the other one for himself. He then sat on the farthest chair he could find from her.

This was one of the moments in which Gibbs wanted to kick himself for letting his social skills untrained for so long.

"So… do you live here all by your self?" Kirsty asked trying to break the ice

Gibbs smiled with sadness "Yes…" And then he did the unexpected. He started talking about Shannon and Kelly "My wife decorated this house and my daughter, once she was old enough, helped her renovate it…"

"Oh… so… you're divorced?" Kirsty inquired

"No… my wife died… and so did my daughter…"

"I'm… I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"You didn't know…" Gibbs said and then paused for a moment before continuing "They were killed because a drug dealer wanted to get back at me" Kirsty covered her mouth trying to hide the gasp she had taken "I was in Iraq… I couldn't protect them…"

"What happened to the men who… killed them?"

"A revenge thirsty marine killed them…" He replied and drank his whole drink in one gulp

Kirsty didn't know Gibbs had been a marine but it wasn't difficult for her to deduce who had been the revenge thirsty marine he had mentioned.

She then remembered what the wish for vengeance felt like. It was a feeling she had forgotten for almost 2 years but now, after talking with Gibbs, a man she could easily trust in, those feelings resurfaced.

"And you?" Gibbs asked interrupting her train of thoughts "What made you get involved with such man as Dmitri Vasiliev?"

She doubted. Kirsty had never told anyone how she had met Dmitri and why she had put up with the many turbulent elements of his life. The little voice in the back of her head urged her to tell him everything. To trust him the way she had wanted to trust in someone her entire life. The way she had trusted her brother before he…

"Are you alright?" He questioned noticing her distraction

"Yeah… yes, I'm fine… just a little tired" Which wasn't a complete lie. She was exhausted, to be honest

"Of course you are… I'm sorry. Come with me, please" He said standing up and leading Kirsty upstairs "You'll be staying here"

He opened the door to a nicely decorated room. 'Guest room' Kirsty thought.

Kirsty walked inside the room and once she got to the bed, she turned around.

"Uhmm… agent Gibbs…?"

"Yes…"

"I… I don't have… any clothes… you know… to sleep in…" She said awkwardly

"Oh… yeah… we seem to have forgotten that… let me see what I can find…" He walked out of the room

In his room, Gibbs went through his closet trying to find something appropriate to lend Kirsty but he couldn't find anything.

Then, an idea came to his mind.

He went to the attic and found a box that was labelled as 'Shannon's clothes'.

"I hope you don't mind" He said to the memory of his wife opening the box and taking out a gray tracksuit Shannon used to wear all the time

Gibbs returned to the guest room and handed Kirsty the clothes "I think this will do"

"Oh yes, it will… thanks… oh…" Kirsty stopped thinking about who the owner of the clothes could be "Agent Gibbs… these clothes… I can't…"

"No, please… I don't mind… and I don't think she would…" Gibbs reassured her and she nodded "Alright, then… I'll leave you to rest…"

"Yes"

"Good night"

"Agent Gibbs…" Kirsty paused for a moment "I… I just want to thank you… for everything you've done for me…"

"You don't have to. It's my job" He said

"Yes… yes, of course. It's you job. You don't actually have to do it" She said looking down

"No… I didn't mean it that way… it's just that…"

"No, please… forgive me… I have no right to speak to you like this. I'm sorry"

"Never apologize… it's a sign of weakness… and you're not weak, Kirsty" He said

"I'm not strong either… if I were… none of this would've happened…" She replied sitting on the bed

"What are you talking about?"

'Damn it! Shut up, Kirsty!' She reprimanded herself "I mean… if I hadn't met Dmitri back in England none of this would be happening…"

"There was no way you could know…" Gibbs comforted

'Yeah, right' She though and limited herself to shrug

"Well… good night, again"

"Good night, agent Gibbs"

He nodded and left the room closing the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Kirsty fell backwards to the bed and groaned in frustration.

"When is this gonna be over?!" She exclaimed covering her face with one of the pillows

* * *

At NCIS, Ziva had worked late to finish an investigation of her own.

"**שלום, אמל. האם יש לך את המידע ביקשתי** _(Hello, Amal. Do you have the information I asked for?)_" She asked to the man on the other side of the phone

"**כן. סוכן האדלי היה במוסקבה לפני שלושה ימים, לפי המקור שלי, היא דיברה עם האיש NCIS חוקר** _(Yes. Agent Hadley was in Moscow three days ago and, according to my source, she was talking to the man NCIS is investigating)_" Amal replied

"**מה עוד **_(What else?)_"

"**היא ראתה גבר אחר מדבר רוסית. שמו Liev מאייר. הוא עובד עם דמיטרי Vasiliev** _(She was seen talking to another Russian man. His name is Liev Meier. He works with Dmitri Vasiliev)_" He explained "**אני אשלח לך את התמונות** _(I will send you the pictures)_"

"תו**דה לך, אמל. אני חייב לך אחד** _(Thank you, Amal. I owe you one)_" Ziva said and hung up

Less than a minute later, Ziva received an email containing over a dozen pictures of Elizabeth talking to Dmitri Vasiliev and the other man Amal had mentioned: Liev Meier.

"She's definitely not what she seems to be…" Ziva said to herself

* * *

**Uuuu, new language... it's Hebrew and once again, sorry for not knowing what I'm writing or what is says or whatever... online translator, blah... but I love the sound of Hebrew, I wish I could speak it! (I'm getting a dregree in Foreign Languages, in case you're wondering)**

**Anywhoooooo.... Thanks again, keep reading, keep R&Ring and keep enjoying!**

**'Till next time, children!**  
**Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo**


	8. Chapter 7: Mind Your Own Business

**Good day, everyone!  
I'm sorry for not posting yesterday but there seemed to be a problem with the whole file uploading thing here at FF and after I tried about 10 times, I gave up and decided to try again today... AND IT WORKED! Aren't I a genius? _(readers reply: yes, Angie, you're a genius ^_^)_**

**Anyways... there's something I'm meant to say every time I post but I just can't remember right now... something to do with CBS and a guy called Donald P. Bellisario... whatever ^_^**

**Enjoy, children!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 7**

"So this is the infamous DiNozzo residence…" Liz said while Tony opened his apartment door

"I hope you're ready for it…" He joked as he let her in

It was, in a way what Liz had expected: a typical bachelor's pad with a black leather couch, dark wood furniture, a crystal dining table, practical kitchen and a huge TV screen and next to it an even bigger armoire.

As Tony closed the door, Liz approached to the armoire and opened it revealing the most complete motion picture collection anyone on Earth had ever seen.

"Wow…" She exclaimed after whistling in awe

"Surprised?" He asked joining her in the living room

"Nah, not really… mine is bigger" She said and looked at him daringly "And better…"

"Oh really? How come?"

"Well, for starters, I don't see 'Gone With The Wind' anywhere" Liz said turning her attention back to the collection

"Oh, yeah… McProbie borrowed it"

Liz walked up to him and slapped him once more in the back of the head.

"Ouch! That hurt! What's with you and all the slapping? Who are you? Gibbs?" He exclaimed

"I made a deal with McGee and I can honestly say I'm enjoying it" She replied sitting on the couch

"Right…" He replied narrowing his eyes at her "Would you like something to drink?" He asked

"Uhmm… the ever-so-gentle paramedic gave a couple of painkillers… I don't think prescription drugs and alcohol should mix…"

"Well, how about some non-alcoholic beverage such as… white wine?" Tony suggested

"I might be on medication, Tony but I'm not an idiot"

"Oh, c'mon! An itty bitty glass of wine is not gonna hurt you… or me…" He said and walked to the kitchen

Liz chuckled to herself and looked around, studying her surroundings.

The apartment was, in a way what she had expected, yes but it was cosier than she had anticipated.

She started taking her jacket off but the pain in her arm didn't let her.

"Hey, hey, wait… let me help you" Tony said rushing to the living room and leaving the 2 glasses of wine on the coffee table. He then assisted Liz to strip her jacket off "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks…"

"Here you go" He said giving her one of the glasses

"Thank you, Tony"

"You're very welcome… a toast to… to you" He said solemnly raising his glass

"To me? And why might that be?" She asked amused

"Because you cheated death today and you are here… with me…"

"That's very sweet, Tony. Thank you…"

"No, thank you…" He said and clinked his glass against hers making her smile "So…" He continued "I got you these. I had them on the fridge so you can choose whatever you want to eat"

He handed out 7 different menus for her to choose.

"Whatever you want to eat its fine by me" She said

"I asked you out so you should choose…"

"Alright, alright… let me see…" She said and took the menus "Italian? Nah… Japanese? Nah… Vegetarian? You eat vegetarian food?"

"Uhmm… no… this is not mine… no idea how it got here" He said and threw it away and Liz laughed

"Chinese… mmm… that sounds nice…" Liz said and then her stomach growled "Ow… sorry… I haven't eaten anything since breakfast"

"No wonder your stomach is threatening to eat us all! It would be like in 'The Blob'!"

"Are you insinuating that my stomach is a giant amoeba-like alien?" She asked insulted

"No… of course not…" Tony rushed to say and then whispered "Maybe a little…"

"Ok, you earned it…" She said and slapped him in the back of the head two times in a row

"One day, Liz… one day…" He warned squinting and Liz laughed even harder than before "By the way… what does the M mean?"

"The M?"

"Yes… Elizabeth M. Hadley… I've known you for over 5 years and I still don't know what it stands for"

"'Mind your own business' that's what it stands for" Liz snapped at him

"C'mon, tell me!" Tony insisted

"Not in a million years…"

"Why not?"

"Because I hate it, that's why…" She replied and he kept looking at her as if he had just gotten a brilliant idea "And don't even think of looking it up in my personal file, cause you won't find it…"

"Awww…" He exclaimed disappointed and then laughed with Liz

After deciding, Tony ordered some Chinese not much later they got their food.

They ate and had a very nice evening.

Later, they decided to watch 'The Court Jester' with Danny Kaye. A hilarious film they both loved.

"I love this part…" Liz said as the scene where the jester is forced to march among the soldiers

"Yeah…" Tony said not really looking at the screen. For the past 10 minutes he hadn't been watching any of the film. He had just been staring at Liz whose head was leaning against his shoulder

Liz noticed his distraction and looked up "Tony, that's not the movie"

"I know…" He said and lowered his eyes to her lips

"And those are definitely not my eyes…" She said

"I know…" This time his voice sounded huskier as he leaned forward

"Whoa…" Liz exclaimed scooting away "What… what do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like?" He asked scooting closer to her

"It looks like something you shouldn't be doing…" She replied leaning backwards as he got closer to her "Tony, stop it!"

"Why?" He asked "We're on a date, remember? Don't you kiss your guy on the first date?"

"N---not usually…" She stammered nervous because of Tony's proximity to her

"Let me change your mind…"

And then, he pressed his lips against hers. At first, Liz kept her eyes open and the tension in her body was evident but as the kiss progressed, she gave in and while Tony surrounded her waist with his arms, she passed her own around Tony's neck, closing her eyes.

They both deepened the kiss and after a moment… or two Tony picked her up and took her to his bedroom.

She didn't protest and had the best night of her life.

The next morning, Liz woke up and the first thing she saw was Tony's face. He was sound asleep, thankfully.

She sighed and ran her hands through her hair.

"This is so wrong…" She whispered

Next thing, carefully, she pulled the sheet from under Tony and wrapped herself in it after standing up.

She looked for every item of clothing she had been wearing, the only problem was that she couldn't find her bra and the last thing she wanted was to wake Tony up and having to face the awkward 'morning after' discussion.

"Oh, what the hell…" She cursed under her breath and decided to leave with anything she found which, fortunately was everything… well, except for the bra

Just as she was zipping her pants up, Tony seemed to be waking up.

"Don't wake up… don't wake up… please… don't let him wake up" Liz prayed in a murmur

He didn't wake up. He just mumbled some unintelligible words and stretched towards the spot where Liz had been lying minutes earlier.

She sighed in relief and continued gathering her stuff.

Once in the living room, she called a cab and less than 3 minutes later it arrived.

She gave one last look at Tony before leaving.

"I'm sorry…"

And then she exited the apartment, went downstairs, got on the cab and left.

"What?" Tony asked suddenly waking up hearing a car machine starting "Liz?"

He got up and noticed Liz's absence.

"Liz?" He repeated walking out of the bedroom in nothing but his boxers "Are you in the bathroom?" No answer

He searched high and low but she wasn't there. He returned to the bedroom and saw the strip of her bra sticking out from under his pillow. He picked it up and sat on the bed.

"Liz…" He repeated once more sighing with sadness

* * *

At Gibbs' house, Kirsty and Gibbs himself were ready leave for the office. They had agreed to stop at Kirsty's motel to give her the chance to get her clothes and change them.

After getting what they needed from the motel, they drove to NCIS but she noticed that they had taken a different route.

"Are we still going to NCIS?" She asked

"Not yet… I need to see… a friend at Meridian Park… it won't take long" Gibbs replied and kept driving

Ten minutes later they arrived to the park.

"It'll take lees than 2 minutes" He reassured Kirsty and got out of the car

Gibbs approached to the bench where he had agreed to see Trent Kort the day before; he was already there.

"Do you have them?" Gibbs asked sitting on the opposite end of the bench from Kort

"All three of them…" He replied dryly

"Thanks" Gibbs said and stood up

"Wait, Gibbs…" Kort said standing up as well and Gibbs turned around annoyed by the CIA agent "I got you this too…"

He then handed Gibbs another yellow envelope, just like the other 2 he had given him before and Gibbs read the name on it.

"I didn't ask for this"

"I thought you might want to take a look at it… after all, agent Hadley hasn't been all that honest with you, has she?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business, Kort"

Gibbs turned around and left with the four files: Kirsty Randall's, Ilya Smirnov's, Dmitri Vasiliev's and Elizabeth Hadley's.

Inside the car, Kirsty saw Gibbs talking with the man and suddenly, her cell phone rang.

She glanced at the screen and the 'Private' tag confused her.

"Hello?" She answer hesitating

"Hello, Kirsty, do you remember me?" A familiar voice asked with a perfect English and yet a light Russian accent

"Who is this?"

"Don't you recognize the voice of your ex-fiancée?"

Kirsty widened her eyes in fear.

"How did you get this number?"

"It wasn't easy, I can assure you that…" The man paused "I know you've been talking to the feds, Kirsty"

"You sent Smirnov to kill me, what did you expect?" She said closing her eyes

"Oh, **Милая **_(Sweetheart), _do you seriously think I would do anything to hurt you? No, no… you were not the target. I grew sick of Collins' demands for more cash in exchange of his services. Believe me, Smirnov's services were cheaper than Collins'… Smirnov, on the other hand, was a lamentable loss" He paused again "Kirsty… I want to see you…"

"I don't, Dmitri…"

"Don't say that… you know you want to…"

He was absolutely right. She wanted to see him. She wanted to finish what she had started 5 years ago when she had met him.

"You're right… I want to see you… but you're gonna have to give me some time to figure out how to get out of NCIS' constant surveillance" She said and noticed that Gibbs was walking back to the car "I have to go… text me the address of the place you're staying in and I will call you as soon as possible"

"That's my girl. I will send you the message right after we hang up" Kirsty could hear the smile in his voice "**Я тебя люблю **_(I love you)_"

Kirsty gulped before responding "**Я тоже тебя люблю **_(I love you too)_" And then she hung up. She put her cell phone away before Gibbs noticed she had been talking

"Ready?" He asked closing the door and placing the files on the back seat

"Yep… ready" Kirsty said half smiling trying to suppress the nervousness

Gibbs started the car and drove away.

* * *

**Sooooooooo.... that was it for now... but I don't think for today... I think I'm gonna be posting some more later today since I didn't give you guys anything yesterday... I'm in a giving mood today... even though I have a cold and sore throat and a bit of a fever and I feel yucky as hell and... *sighs* oh, well... whatever :p**

**Keep reading, keep R&Ring and just so you know, we are not all that far from knowing the truth about everything :D**

**Koo Koo Kah Choo, children! xoxo**


	9. Chapter 8: Nice Puppy

**Hello there, children! So, I waited about 12 hours to make the second post of the day, as promised.  
Blu bli blu... CBS and Donal P. Bellisario... blu bli blu...  
**

**Enjoy, kiddies!!!**

**

* * *

**

**CHAPTER 8**

Meanwhile Liz had already arrived to the office and, to her surprise, so had Ziva.

"Good morning" Liz greeted coldly

"Good morning, agent Hadley… do you mind if I have a word with you?" Ziva asked standing up from her seat

"About what, Ziva? Do you want to tell me more about your conspiracy theory? One in which I might be involved, maybe?" Liz asked without stopping walking

She was already feeling like crap for leaving Tony's apartment and for letting her date with him go that far. She wasn't really in the mood for a confrontation with Ziva about something she couldn't even imagine.

"I'm serious, Elizabeth" Ziva said grabbing Liz's arm, halting her

"Fine…" Liz replied shooting daggers with her eyes

They walked to the conference room and Ziva closed the door, although she did not lock it.

"What do you want, Ziva?" Liz asked annoyed

Ziva didn't say a word and just threw a bunch of pictures over the large table.

Liz walked closer and examined the images. She closed her eyes and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Ziva questioned

"All of this…" Liz simply said

"What do you mean?"

"No offence, Ziva but… this is stupid!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! You think that a couple of pictures of me talking to a man are going to prove anything?" Ziva frowned and Liz continued "You think I am disloyal and that I came here to ruin your investigation but you are wrong, Ziva"

"How can I be wrong when you've done nothing but hide your true self. If you don't want to tell me anything, don't do it but don't hide it from Gibbs or Tony who seem to trust you with their lives"

"If there's anything I have to tell Gibbs or Tony, believe me, I won't do it because you think it's the right thing for me to do. I will do it when I think is the right thing to do" Liz said upset at Ziva's interrogatory

But Ziva was fed up of, what she considered an arrogant and unprofessional attitude from Liz.

She reached out, grabbed Liz's wrist and twisted it on her back making the latter bend face down on top of the table.

"I know you had something to do with the attack on our only witness and if I find out that you are planning on doing something to put the agency or Gibbs or Tony's life in danger…" Ziva threatened

"That's what's bothering you, isn't it?" Liz asked without even flinching "My relationship with Tony"

"I don't care about your relationship with Tony but he is my friend and the only family I have here, as are Gibbs, Abby, Ducky and McGee and I will not let you or anyone else hurt them"

Liz made an astounding movement in which she got free from Ziva's strong grip and slammed her against the nearest wall pressing her neck with her arm.

"Look, Ziva: I don't want to hurt you. You've given me no reason to do it but you're slowly looking for one and I don't know if I'll be able to help myself"

"You are a traitor and I will prove it"

In that moment Tony walked into the room. In the moment he had arrived he had seen Ziva's and Liz's things at the bullpen and he went out looking for them. He walked by the conference room and heard noises.

"What's going on? Liz? Ziva… what's happening?" He asked shocked by the scene in front of him

"Nothing…" Liz said and released her grip from Ziva looking at her straight in the eye "When you discover the truth, I promise I won't throw anything in your face" She said and walked out of the room

Ziva straightened her clothes and walked to the door.

"What was that?" Tony asked

"Nothing, Tony…" Ziva said

"Tell me, Ziva" He insisted blocking her way

"Why don't you ask her? You seem to trust her more than anyone else" And with that, she exited the room

Tony, still confused, rushed out of the room and caught up with Liz who was walking into the elevator on her way to see Abby.

"Liz, wait!" He called and managed to get into the elevator with her "What did just happen?"

"That's something between Ziva and me, Tony" She dryly replied

Then, Tony pushed the emergency button and the elevator halted went darker.

"Liz, what happened this morning? Why did you leave without saying anything?"

"There was nothing to say, Tony"

"Yes, there was! You… you could've said something like: 'good morning, sunshine' or maybe: 'wow, that was great' or how about: 'this has been the best night of my life'?" He suggested

"I can't say that, Tony because I don't believe it was great or that it was the best night of my life and I can't definitely call you sunshine" She said without looking at him; not even once

"Why do you say that? I thought… I thought you…"

"You thought what?" She exclaimed finally looking at him, a few tears threatening to run down her cheeks "You thought that I wouldn't regret spending the night together? That we could maybe build a relationship after what happened? Wake up, Tony. This is real life, not one of the movies you like so much"

"What are you saying, Liz? It doesn't even make sense!"

"It makes sense, Tony because I've been in love with you for these past 5 years and I've fought this whole time to prevent the huge mistake I made last night"

"You… you're in… in love with me?" Tony repeated in disbelief

Liz couldn't say anything and Tony decided to make a move.

He approached to her and kissed her passionately.

She didn't stop him, at first but then, she opened her eyes and pushed him away from her, the tears now abandoning her eyes.

"No! Stop it, Tony!" She shouted at him, pressed the emergency button and exited the elevator immediately leaving Tony completely overwhelmed

"I'm in love with you too, Liz"

Liz couldn't take the elevator again so she decided to take the stairs but after the first flight of stairs, she couldn't take it anymore and stopped. She sat on one of the steps and started crying.

"I can't do this…" She mumbled

After a few minutes, she wiped the tears off her eyes and face, made herself presentable and headed to Abby's lab.

"Morning, Abs" She greeted as cheerfully as her mood permitted her

"Good morning, Liz!" Abby replied "How are you?"

"Been better… what have you got?"

"Well, I've been looking for the last fingerprint set, nothing yet but, I got you what you asked yesterday" Abby said handing her a personal file "Natalya Tereshchenko"

"Thank you, Abs" Liz said and walked to the exit

"What? Is that it? Just a thank you? Gibbs usually gets me some Caf Pow!"

"Check the fridge" Liz simply said giving Abby a small smile as she disappeared on her way to the stars

Abby ran to the fridge and found a large sized Caf Pow container.

"You're the best, Liz!"

* * *

Meanwhile, upstairs, in the bullpen, Tony sat in his desk staring at his cell phone he was holding in his hand trying to decide to call Liz or not.

"Tony… Tony!" McGee called

"Eh?"

"I've got something amazing!"

"For the billionth time, McGoo, I am not interested in Star Trek, Star Wars, Battle Star Gallactica or any other sci-fi franchise with the word 'star' in it!" Tony replied

"No, not that… I hacked into the CIA's system and they happened to have a speculated place where Smirnov could have been staying while he was here in D.C." McGee explained and Tony stood up from his desk, walked to McGee's and read the information on the screen

"Robbins Road? That's less than 5 minutes from here!" Tony exclaimed as Gibbs entered along with Kirsty "Boss! McGenious found a possible location for Smirnov's hiding place"

"Exact address, McGee" Gibbs said

"It's an abandoned warehouse, boss. 13 Robbins Rd." McGee reported

"Good job, McGee" Gibbs congratulated his junior field agent and then turned to Tony "Where's Liz?"

"She's…" Tony started

"She's here…" Liz said approaching to them

"Good. You're with me. Tony, you're with Ziva. McGee, you're in charge of Miss Randall's protection" Gibbs instructed as he walked to the elevator followed by his agents "And call Ducky. Tell him we'll come back to check on Smirnov's autopsy"

"Yes, boss" McGee said and looked at Kirsty who just shrugged as the elevator doors closed

Inside the elevator, the tension in the atmosphere could easily be cut with a knife and all of them noticed it. They waited in an awkward silence until they reached their destination.

Once in the parking lot, Gibbs got in his car and waited for Liz to get in to while in another car, Ziva got in the passenger's seat and Tony remained outside, looking at Liz in silence, who was looking him back.

"Are we going?" Gibbs asked making Liz break the eye contact

"Yes" She simply said and got in

Tony exhaled and got into his car as well.

The ride in Tony's and Ziva's car was completely silent but in Gibbs and Liz's, not so much.

"Are you alright?" He asked

"Yeah… just a little tired…" She lied

"Hopefully this will be over soon" Gibbs said

"Yeah…" They went silent for about a minute and then Liz remembered she wanted to ask Gibbs something "Gibbs… how did you know I was in Moscow before I came here?"

"I have my sources…"

"Don't we all?" She smiled weakly "Secret Service? CIA?"

"CIA"

"Why doesn't it surprise me? Trent Kort?" He nodded "I should've known… I saved his butt once in Alaska…"

"Haven't we all saved his ass at least once?" Gibbs joked and Liz chuckled. It was then when he noticed how red here eyes were and how sad she looked "Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"You might be a great agent, Liz. Profiler, field agent, military and even undercover but you're still human…"

"Sometimes I forget that… I don't know where I've left my humanity, Gibbs…"

Gibbs couldn't find anything appropriate to say and after a couple of minutes, they arrived to the abandoned warehouse near Douglas Bridge.

* * *

Both cars pulled over, the 4 agents got out of the cars, geared up with bullet-proof vests and NCIS caps, drew their guns out and after receiving instructions from Gibbs, they dispersed around the outside of the warehouse.

They made a small recognisance mission and once they made sure it was safe to go in, they opened the door and rushed in.

There was no human being in sight.

A Doberman dog barked violently as he tried to free himself from a thick chain that tied him to a rusted water pipe.

"Nice puppy" Tony said with sarcasm

"Weapons, DiNozzo" Gibbs commanded

"Yes, boss" He replied walking to a big moth-eaten wooden table "Ew…"

"What?" Ziva asked approaching "Oh… yeah, ew…"

Different kinds of knives, maces, something that looked like ninja stars covered in blood decorated the table.

"Hey, boss! Look what I just found!" Tony called putting his latex gloves on and picking one particular item up

Gibbs walked up to them and smiled at Tony "Pack it up"

It was the copper dagger Smirnov had used to kill Collins.

"Look at this" Liz said showing them a small bag full of almonds "They look…" She sniffed the inside of the bag "And smell old… rancid"

The rest of the objects they found in the place were able to give the strongest of man goose bumps: leather whips, a spiky short sort of a belt which Liz recognized as a cilice, different torture artefacts, all covered in blood.

"I'm sure Ducky's having a blast with our 'Silas'" Tony pointed out referring to one of 'The DaVinci Code's' characters

They examined the place and it was as creepy as the bloody devices they had found but apart from that and Smirnov's laptop, they couldn't find anything else and returned to NCIS.

* * *

Kirsty sat in the conference room all alone. McGee had received a phone call from Gibbs asking him to decode the encrypted emails they had retrieved from Smirnov's laptop.

She held her cell phone in her hands reading for the fourth time the text message she had received 15 minutes before.

It was from Dmitri, giving her his D.C. address and asking her to look for him as soon as possible.

She wasn't sure of what to do. Her heart and head told her to trust Gibbs and his team, to believe they would find him before he found her but the memories, the hatred wouldn't let her think properly.

* * *

The team returned to the office and Tony, Gibbs and Liz went straight to Ducky's morgue.

"What have you got, Duck?" Gibbs asked

"Oh, Jethro… and… Lizzie?" Ducky questioned surprised by Liz's presence

"Hi, Ducky" Liz said approaching to the M.E. and giving him a warm hug

"When did you get here?"

"Yesterday"

"And you waited a whole day to come and see me? Why hadn't anyone told me you where here?"

"We've been busy, Ducky" Tony said eying Liz

"Oh, yes, yes… well, is good to have you back, Lizzie" Ducky replied smiling at Liz

"Thank you, Ducky…"

"What did you get on Smirnov, Duck?" Gibbs questioned again

"Well, our disturbing friend here…" Ducky started walking back to the examination table "And by disturbing I mean a sadist and masochist. Timothy called me to let me know you were heading to this fellow's place… I'm guessing you found different sorts of torture devices" The 3 agents nodded "From these markings" He continued pointing at Smirnov's thigh "I was able to deduce that this man had a constant use on a spiked wire belt that when pulled tighter, provokes severe bleeding"

"A cilice" Liz said

"Very good, Lizzie…" Ducky said

"But the cilice is only used by very religious people; fanatics and most of them are catholic. If I'm not mistaken, Smirnov was not a catholic but an orthodox and yet, I do not believe he was a practicing orthodox" Liz commented

"This is starting to sound more and more like 'The DaVinci Code'" Tony muttered

"I believe, Lizzie, that our friend here was not a practicing orthodox, just like you said but he was an avid masochist and people like him tend to adopt any kind of torture method to fulfil their… sexual, mental, spiritual and sickening need of pain as substitute for pleasure" Ducky explained

"That's a nasty scar" Tony said

"Yes… he probably inflicted it to himself or, maybe his addiction to pain was born from it" Ducky confirmed

"Ratified COD?" Gibbs asked

"A very large voltaic charge that electrocuted his internal organs"

"He fried himself" Tony simplified

"Quite colloquial, my young friend but… after running a tox scan of his blood, Abigail was able to isolate a peculiar chemical substance with the chemical nomenclature of HCN"

"Hydrogen Cyanide?" Liz asked in shock

"That's correct, my dear"

"Cyanide? As in the poison?" Tony inquired equally shocked and Ducky nodded

"The almonds Liz found at the warehouse…" Gibbs adduced

"That would explain the contents of his stomach. Nothing but old almonds and vodka… and a very cheap one, dare I say" Ducky said "And for the amount of hydrogen cyanide Abby found in his blood, this man wouldn't have lasted more than 3 or 4 weeks, at the most" He continued and then turned to Liz "Did you know that an almond can contain from 4 to 9 mg of HCN?" Liz nodded at the comment but remained silent

"He was slowly killing himself" Tony said

"What did he mean when he said 'I serve a greater cause than men'?" Liz asked

"He was probably referring to the voices he must've been hearing in his head" Ducky said

"Schizophrenia" Gibbs simply said

"Most likely…"

"He also said something about the American tyranny ending, right?" Gibbs asked

"Yes… but this doesn't make any sense! This case has been more of a personal vendetta towards Kirsty than an actual terrorist attack on the US" Tony pointed out

"We'll see about that" Gibbs said and walked to the elevator "Thanks, Duck"

"Thank you, Ducky. I'll come by later" Liz said giving him a kiss on the cheek and following Gibbs

Tony smiled at Ducky and caught up with Liz and Gibbs.

"You're going to see Abby, right, Gibbs?" Liz asked

"Yes, why?"

"Because I want to check on Kirsty" She lied

"Alright, we'll see you upstairs, then" Gibbs said as the elevator halted. Him and Tony got out at Abby's lab and left Liz alone "Ok, the hard part has just started" She said to herself

* * *

Upstairs, Kirsty paced up and down the conference room trying to make the right decision, when Liz walked into the room holding a file in her hand.

"Good morning, Kirsty" Liz greeted as she closed the door and placed the file on the table "Did you rest well?"

"I tried… what's going on?" Kirsty asked as Liz sat down a few seats away from her

"I believe we need to talk… Kirsty…" Liz emphasized her name

"About what?" Kirsty questioned suspiciously

"About Nikolai…"

Kirsty's eyes opened widely at the sound of the name she had thought about at least once a day for the past 6 years.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about"

"I believe you do, Kirsty… or would you like me to call you by your other name?" Liz asked opening the file

* * *

Simultaneously, Gibbs and Tony walked towards Abby who was walking around the evidence table rubbing her hands together anxiously.

"Gibbs! Thank God you're here…" She exclaimed noticing their presence

"What is it, Abs?" Gibbs asked

"Have you got anything on the things we brought you from Smirnov's place?" Tony inquired

"Yes… that's the problem…" Abby said "These are very bad news, Gibbs…"

"Tell me, Abby"

She approached to her computer and hit 'enter'. What they saw on the screen paralyzed them.

"What does that mean?" Tony asked

"Those are the finger prints I found in the copper dagger… Smirnov's, obviously and…" Abby's voice trailed off

"It has to be a mistake…" Tony said

"I think it's time to get some answers…" Gibbs said and rushed to the elevator, followed by Tony

* * *

**Chan chan chaaaaaan!!! Uuuuu Cliffhanger, people, cliffhanger!!! *runs in circles screaming head off***

**I'm gonna go and take the pretty colourful pills now...**  
**Nighty night, children and remember: Koo Koo Kah Choo!**  
**xoxo**

**PS. Oh, and it was long, you can't complain ;)**


	10. Chapter 9: This Is Not A Game

**Hello, my children! I still have a cold so I'm not really in the mood for a long pre-posting chat so, straight to the point:**

**I don't own anything, blu bli blu... whatever...**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 9**

"Look, Kirsty… I don't have much time and I need to know the truth…" Liz insisted and then, the door opened

"Liz…" Gibbs said and motioned her to get out of the room

Liz sighed and stood up. She closed the file and then placed a piece of paper on the table "This is where I'm staying and that's my cell phone number… call me or pay me a visit when you're ready to talk…" She said and left Kirsty alone

"What is it, Gibbs?" Liz asked

"We need to talk…"

"How many times have you said that in the past 36 hours?" Liz asked smiling but losing her smile noticing Gibbs' seriousness "What's wrong?"

"You are about to be tagged as an official NCIS suspect and in order for me to stop that, I need you to tell me the truth now…" Gibbs said

* * *

Minutes later, Liz was sitting on the chair that faced the two way mirror inside the interrogation room. She was alone but she knew Gibbs, Tony and probably Ziva and McGee were watching her from the other side.

"What now, boss?" McGee asked

"We need to interrogate her…" Gibbs answered

"Like any other suspect" Ziva completed earning an angered stare from Tony "Don't give me that look, Tony… you think you know her but you don't! She was in Moscow before she came here! She was in Moscow 2 days before Collins was killed"

"Shut up, Ziva" Tony said

"I will not shut up… look at this"

She handed him the pictures her friend from Mossad had sent her and his eyes widened.

"I'll do it" Tony finally said looking back at Liz at the other side of the glass

Before any of them could say anything, Tony walked out of the observation room and entered the interrogation room with the pictures in his hand.

Liz looked up from the table and wasn't a bit surprised to see Tony.

In absolute silence, he walked to the table and sat opposite to Liz.

"How did your fingerprints get on the dagger that killed Cpl. Collins?" He questioned dryly

"I don't know…"

"Tell me the truth"

"I am telling you the truth… I don't know how they got there!"

"Stop lying! For once in your life, tell the truth!" He exclaimed standing up so violently that his chair fell backwards making a deafening sound "Did you have something to do with Collins' murder?"

"No" Liz simply said without moving her eyes from in front of her

"Then what does this mean?" He threw the pictures on top of the table

"Ziva gave you these, didn't she?"

"Does it matter? What were you doing in Moscow before Collins' murder?"

"I am not authorized to talk about that" She replied with stoicism

"Oh, really?" Tony snapped back pretending to guffaw "Well, I don't give a damn if you're authorized or not! You're gonna tell me the truth and you're gonna do it now!"

"Are you trying to get back at me because of what I did to you?" Liz said standing up and facing him

Tony then walked to the door and locked it and then, just to be sure, he secured the entrance with the steel table by dragging it and pushing it against the door.

Inside the observation room, Gibbs, McGee and Ziva were completely caught off guard.

"DiNozzo, stop it!" Gibbs called, banging the glass with no avail "C'mon!" He called his other 2 agents as he rushed out of the room

"This has nothing to do with that! You betrayed NCIS; you betrayed Gibbs… you betrayed me!" Tony continued

"And that's what hurts you the most, isn't it? I have never betrayed anyone in my entire life! All I've ever done is risk my life for everyone else!"

He cornered her against the wall and she tried to push him away but he didn't let her. He was too angry to be in control of himself.

"All you've done since you arrived has been making a mess! Our case could've ended yesterday and you've made sure to complicate everything! That's why I saw you yesterday morning at the coffee shop, isn't it? You didn't come to D.C. to deliver a report… you came here to penetrate into our investigation to cover your ass!"

"You were the one who call me, don't you remember?"

"I wish I hadn't done it!" He exclaimed hitting the wall with his hand making her jump "What's the name of your Russian friend? The one you talked to yesterday… the same man that appears in these pictures"

"Liev Meier" She said calmly

He leaned forward and spoke to her ear, his voice turning into a whisper completely inaudible to Gibbs and the others "What you said… in the elevator… it was a lie, wasn't it?" She looked up to see him in the eye "You made me believe you loved me…"

Outside the interrogation room, Gibbs and the others tried to open the door.

"Tony, open the door! Open it now!" Gibbs instructed but Tony was not listening

"When the time comes, you'll realize that is not true… I just hope it is not too late" She replied as low as him with tears in her eyes

Tony felt taken aback by her answer and took a few steps away from her, not taking his eyes off her

"Tony!" Gibbs insisted from outside

Then, Tony grabbed the end of the table and pulled it away from the door. Gibbs, Ziva and McGee burst in.

"She had nothing to do with it, boss" Tony simply said and exited the room

"What was that all about?" Gibbs asked he asked Liz but she remained silent "Liz?"

"Am I under arrest?" She asked and Gibbs didn't answer right away "Am I?"

"No" Gibbs replied and it took Liz less than 2 seconds to exit the room but Gibbs followed her "Elizabeth!"

"I am not under arrest, Gibbs. You've just said it" She said without stopping

"Yes, but if you don't stop and listen to me I will make sure you spend the night in a cell" He warned her and she stopped "What the hell did just happen?"

"Tony just proved his interrogation skills" She answered with irony

"This is not a game, Liz"

"Don't you think I know that?"

"I don't know what you're thinking, Liz! You don't seem to trust us… any of us!"

"I believe the feeling is mutual, Gibbs…" She said and looked at him with sadness "I will remove myself from the investigation…" She continued walking but then stopped and looked back at Gibbs "And tell Tony I will not impose my presence on him ever again"

And then she was gone.

Gibbs didn't return to the interrogation room. He went straight to the bullpen, looking for Tony but he couldn't find him anywhere.

Meanwhile, McGee and Ziva decided to go and check on Kirsty.

"Do you think agent Hadley's been lying to us?" McGee asked

"If she hasn't been lying she hasn't been telling the whole truth either" Ziva replied and opened the conference room door "Miss Randall… are you…? Where is she?" She asked noticing Kirsty's absence

"Gibbs is going to be so mad at us…" McGee said while Ziva called security

"I need a full search inside the building. The subject: Kirsty Randall" She said as they rushed to the bullpen

"Boss! Kirsty's gone" McGee said

"What?" Gibbs asked

"She's gone. She must've left when… when Tony was interrogating Liz" Ziva said

"Or maybe someone took her away" McGee said

"Kidnap? Inside the building?" Ziva asked "That would be impossible"

"I want a team looking for her inside and outside the Yard" Gibbs instructed as Tony walked into the bullpen "Where were you?"

"I went to see Abby... to make sure she hadn't made a mistake with Liz…"

"And?"

"Nothing on that yet… but she gave me this…" He handed Gibbs a piece for paper "The results of the last set of unidentified fingerprints inside Kirsty's house…"

Gibbs read the report and gave it back to Tony, rushing towards Abby's lab.

"Natalya Tereshchenko?" McGee asked reading the paper "Who's that?"

* * *

"Abs!" Gibbs shouted as soon as he walked out of the elevator "Who is Natalya Tereshchenko?"

"I can't tell you, Gibbs"

"You can tell me and you will"

"Gibbs, Liz asked me not to tell anyone, not even you"

"What does Liz have to do with this?" Abby bit her lower lip and shook her head "Abby, if you don't tell me what you know, Liz's career could be in danger"

"What? What do you mean?"

After assessing Gibbs' concerned look she decided to tell him everything.

"Yesterday, when Liz came to see me, she asked me to run a search on a woman named Natalya Tereshchenko. She was born in a town near St. Petersburg. Her parents died when she was 15 years old and after that, her brother got into a lot of trouble. He met a man called Luka Volkov who, I discovered runs one of the biggest arm dealing cells in Russia" Abby explained

"And the fingerprints in Kirsty's house belong to this Natalya?" Gibbs asked starting to get confused

"Yes! You should've seen my surprise when I saw the name and realized it was all related" Abby continued "But that wasn't what shocked me the most… After her brother died, 6 years ago, Natalya Tereshchenko and all trace of her disappeared. It was as if she had vanished from the face of the Earth"

"What was the name of her brother?" Gibbs asked

"Uhmm… Nikolai… Nikolai Tereshchenko"

Gibbs didn't say anything else and rushed out of the lab.

"DiNozzo, get the car. We need to talk to Liz. What hotel she's staying at?"

"The Hilton Washington, boss"

"Try to contact her while we get there…" He said and while he and Tony rushed to the elevator, he dialled Kirsty's cell phone number "C'mon… pick up… answer the phone, Kirsty…"

* * *

Sitting on the passenger's seat of a brand new silver Mercedes Benz, Kirsty watched the name 'Gibbs' lighting up the screen of her cell phone.

"Who was that?" The driver asked

"Agent Gibbs" She replied and looked at the man

"**Не****беспокойтесь****, ****мы****позаботимся****о****его****и****всю****команду****, ****включая****агентов****Хэдли**_(Don't worry, we'll take care of him and the rest of his team)_" Dmitri Vasiliev reassured her taking her hand and kissing it tenderly. She smiled at him and then he looked out the window "**Получить****ее**_(Get her)" _He instructed through a walkie-talkie

The Mercedes Benz was parked at Connecticut Ave., outside the Hilton Washington Hotel.

Kirsty saw when agent Hadley got out of a cab and walked into the hotel.

"**Она****скоро****кончится****, ****любовь****моя**_(It will soon be over, my love)_" Dmitri said sweetly while Kirsty looked at Liz from afar

* * *

**Uuuuu, creepy people blu bli blu... I'm absolutely doped on flu medicine so... just read enjoy and do whatever you do after you do all the things I just mentioned.**

**The end is coming... *_***

**Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo**


	11. Chapter 10: Matrioshka

**Hello, my children :)**

**I'm still sick, but that's nothing new... I'm oh so tired and I feel as if my nose was about to fall off lol  
So, you know the disclaimers and with that, I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 10**

Liz exhaled as she stepped out of the cab and her cell phone rang for the 5th time. 'Tony', it announced. She groaned and thought 'Not my favourite person right now'.

She walked into the hotel, asked for her messages, which were none, got into the elevator and got to her room.

Once there, she left her gun and badge on top of the dresser, threw her coat and Natalya Tereshchenko's file to her bed and sat on the edge of it.

"If only people knew what we do to keep them safe…" She said to herself "I need a drink"

She reached out for the phone, called the reception and asked for a bottle of bourbon.

5 minutes later, a knock on the door brought her back from her incessant internal struggle.

"That was fast" She said and opened the door although she wished she hadn't done so

Two tall, muscular men burst into her room, trying to knock her unconscious.

Liz ran to the dresser and tried to reach for her gun but one of the men pulled her by her white tank top and stopped her, throwing her to the floor.

She managed to kick him behind the knees making him fall on all fours but the other man grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her backwards. She stood up and fought against the last guy but before she could punch him for the 4th time, the other man hit her in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking her out.

"**Выберите сука и давайте отсюда!**_(Pick the bitch up and let's get out of here!)_" The less muscular of the both said

The other guy, a huge gorilla look-a-like man lifted Liz as if she weighed nothing more than a leaf and they left the room.

They rushed to the emergency stairs and exited the hotel through the back side of the building.

* * *

At the same time, in the car, Tony dialled Liz's number over and over but it kept sending him to voice mail.

"Nothing, boss" He said "Anything with Kirsty?"

"No… this is not good, DiNozzo…" Gibbs said hitting the gas pedal and speeding up

They pulled over at one of the side streets of the hotel and as Tony stepped out of the car, he saw 2 men putting Liz, who seemed to be unconscious, inside a black van.

"Boss! They're taking Liz!" He shouted and ran towards the van followed by Gibbs "NCIS, stop right there!" He yelled at the men from afar as they got into the van

The men noticed Tony and rushed to drive away. Tony ran behind the van "Liz! Liz! No!" He called hitting the side of the van but it was useless. They didn't stop

"DiNozzo" Gibbs said behind him

"They took her away, boss… they… they are going to kill her…" He said in between breaths

"Not if we find her first, Tony" Gibbs said patting Tony in the shoulder

* * *

Abby paced up and down her lab waiting for the last test to throw its result.

A high pitched beep alerted her that it was ready. Running to her computer, she printed the results and widened her eyes in shock.

"It can't be…" She said and ran to the elevator "Ziva, McGee, where's Gibbs?"

"They went looking for agent Hadley, Abby, why?" McGee asked

"Because I just got the last piece of our Russian puzzle!"

"Shouldn't you say the last doll of our Matrioshka doll set?" McGee joked and looked at Ziva and Abby waiting for them to laugh but all he got was a slap in the back of the head from Abby "Ouch! What?"

"This is not the time for jokes, McGee! This is serious!"

"Sorry…"

"Excuse me…" An unknown man in a very expensive looking suit said walking to them

"Yes?" Ziva asked facing the man

"I'm looking for special agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs"

* * *

At the hotel, Gibbs and Tony searched inside Liz's suite. It was a mess. A crystal vase shattered into pieces on the floor, Liz's gun on the floor, a few pictures that used to hang on the wall lying broken on the floor as well and a tiny pool of blood staining the ivory carpet that surrounded the bed.

Tony analyzed the scene with terror and anger.

"Tony…" Gibbs called noticing the distress Tony was in

"This is my fault… if I… if I hadn't said all those things to her… if…"

"Tony… I need you focused. We're going to find Liz but you have to have you mind cleared. You're of no use to me or Liz in this state"

"Yes, boss…" He nodded

"There's nothing here that will help us… we better go back to the office and start a search for Liz" Gibbs said walking out of the room

Tony followed him but stopped in front of the dresser. He grabbed Liz's badge, put it inside his pocket and left.

* * *

All Liz could understand around her was the throbbing headache that was making her brain pound and the feeling of the dripping blood on her temple.

She slowly opened her eyes and they hurt by the blinding white light she was facing.

Once her eyes got used to it, she looked around.

She seemed to be in some sort of half built edification with tall concrete walls and the same concrete floor.

When she tried to stand up from the chair she was sitting in, she realized her wrists and ankles were duct taped to the steel legs and arms of the chair. A large piece of the same gray tape covered her mouth not letting her utter a sound.

Pulling her hands and legs as strongly as she could, she tried to jerk the duct tape off, unsuccessfully.

"**Это****не****самый****умный****, ****что****нужно****сделать****, ****Элизабет**_(That's not the smartest thing to do, Elizabeth)_" A familiar male voice said behind her pressing the barrel of a gun against the back of her head

The pressure caused by the gun gave in and she heard the footsteps of the man walking to stand in front of her. As she looked up, she recognized the man instantly. She dared him with the eyes.

"You don't seem surprised, agent Hadley" Dmitri Vasiliev said with a smile "But why should you? You've been investigating me for 2 years now… I can't believe you managed to go undercover inside my little group of friends for 2 whole weeks and I must say it was my mistake… I didn't recognize you… but you must forgive my memory…" He said, squatting in front of her, playing with the gun in his hands "I tend to forget the faces of the people I find irrelevant" He paused and smiled wider "Although… I do happen to remember agents Jackson and Morris… I sent a crown of flowers to their widows along with my condolences… I felt sorry for them, but just like your fellow agents, I was doing my job"

He then slowly pulled the duct tape off Liz's mouth.

"Is that better for you?" He asked hypocritically

"I'll be better when I look down at your corpse and smile" She replied giving him a cynical smile

"I thought you'd said something like that…" Dmitri replied and then, out of the blue, back handed her across the cheek, giving her a bloody lip "But maybe next time you'd like to think twice before opening your mouth"

"What brought you to D.C.?" Liz asked as he gave his back at her "You didn't just come for Kirsty, did you?"

"You know me oh so well" He laughed "I believe I can trust you won't tell anyone… seeing you're not leaving this place alive…" Liz frowned at the comment "Unlike what you and your agent friends must be thinking, we are not planning an attack on the US… well, at least not directly… I happen to have a very interesting Lebanese man as client"

"So you've left direct terrorism and decided to go for something less… ethical?" Liz questioned

"It surprises me to hear an international agent call terrorism ethical"

"At least terrorists have a cause… now you only do it for the money… how low you've fallen"

"What better reason to leave terrorism!" He laughed

"**Лука****, ****шейх**** Harun ****знать****время****доставки**_(Luka, Hārūn demands to know the time of the delivery)_" One of Vasiliev's henchmen said

"**Я****буду****тут**_(I'll be right there)_" He replied and looked at Liz smiling "You'll have to excuse me, Elizabeth… duty calls but don't worry… we'll continue with our little chat later… Oh… and I have a surprise for you…"

Liz saw him walking away and thought to herself 'Luka… we were right… his real name is Luka Volkov. I have to get out of here'

* * *

"Boss, what happened?" McGee asked "Where's agent Hadley?"

"Some men took her. We believe they work for Dmitri Vasiliev" Tony answered in Gibbs stead

"What?" Ziva asked

"Do you believe she wasn't working for them, now?" Tony asked Ziva

"Boss, Abby got the results of the blood test she ran on the dry blood she found on the traces of the copper dagger in Collins' body… the name she got was Nikolai Tereshchenko"

"Nikolai and Natalya Tereshchenko?" Gibbs said and pulled Kirsty's file out of his desk drawer and he read both, Natalya's and Kirsty's files. Slowly, he noticed the noticed the similarities "Natalya Tereshchenko and Kirsty Randall are the same person" He deduced

"What?" His 3 agents asked

"We need to find Kirsty… Natalya… whatever her name is…" Gibbs said and headed to the elevator

"Gibbs, wait… there's a man in the conference room… he came looking for you and Tony…" Ziva said

"Name?" Tony asked

"Aleksey Reznikov"

"Who's that?" Tony asked and McGee and Ziva just shrugged

"Come, DiNozzo" Gibbs instructed walking to the conference room

In the moment Tony entered the room and saw this Aleksey Reznikov, he recognized him.

"You?!" He asked infuriated

"Good afternoon, agent DiNozzo" The man greeted

"Do you know him, Tony?" Gibbs asked

"Of course I know him! His name is Liev Meier! He almost killed Liz yesterday!" He exclaimed and strode to Reznikov, grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall "Where is she? I know you know where she is! Tell me!"

"Calm down, agent DiNozzo… please, if you let me explain…"

"Tony, let go of him… let's hear what he has to say…" Gibbs said and Tony released his grip on Reznikov's shirt

"My name is Aleksey Reznikov. You know me as Liev Meier because that's my undercover name"

"Undercover?" Tony asked

"Yes… I'm an agent of the FSB" Tony raised an eyebrow "The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation"

"Russian intelligence…" Gibbs completed

"That's right… I was helping agent Hadley with her mission in Moscow"

"What mission?"

"We were undercover in Dmitri Vasiliev's cell, whose real name, by the way isn't D. Vasiliev… his name is Luka Volkov that's why you couldn't find much of him and that's why the CIA file you got, agent Gibbs contains nothing but a single page of useless information" Aleksey informed

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that" Gibbs said

"Do you know something about Natalya Tereshchenko?" Tony questioned

"Yes… Liz started an investigation on her right after the case in the UK was closed… she got involved with Volkov in the UK under the name of Kirsty Randall. She did it because her brother, Nikolai was killed by Volkov… personally"

"She's been looking for revenge" Gibbs deduced

"Indeed she has"

"Why did you point your weapon at Liz yesterday?"

"Because I've been under constant vigilance since I arrived to D.C. and, unlike Liz, I managed to stay inside Volkov's group"

"What do you mean?" Tony asked

"After 2 weeks of being undercover, Volkov started suspecting about Liz and we decided to extract her from the mission and the FSB relocated her to D.C. right after Volkov left Moscow and came here. You must know how Liz is. She obstinately refused to leave the case and decided to continue the investigation from here and follow Volkov's every single move which she did perfectly. We were probably being watched by Volkov's men so we had to stage what you happened to witness…"

"And now she is missing, dude!" Tony exclaimed

"But that doesn't mean she didn't do her job right…" Aleksey replied as tranquil as before "Volkov arrived to D.C. 5 days ago and I've been following him… but every time I'm about to get his final location, his headquarters, I lose track of him"

"That doesn't make you as good agent as Liz, does it?" Tony mocked

"Probably not… she's far better than I am…"

"Do you know something about her fingerprints on a murder weapon?" Gibbs asked

"Yes… I planted them…"

"What?!" Tony shouted outraged

"Yes… I owe you and her an apology for that but this morning I received orders to remove Liz from the case and I knew she wouldn't leave it that easily. Before agent McGee got the address to Smirnov's warehouse, I was given the intel and headed there in the early hours of the morning. I had Liz's fingerprints and set them up on the hilt of the dagger…" He explained

"You do realize she's been taken because of that, don't you?" Tony asked

"Yes and I am very sorry… which leads me to explain the reason of my presence here… I came to offer NCIS all the assistance the FSB may provide you to find agent Hadley and capture Luka Volkov" He said

"What? Is that it? That's all you can say after making us believe Liz had betrayed us?" Tony said louder than he should have

"I am more sorry than I can say, agent DiNozzo… Liz is not only a great agent but a wonderful person and a truthful friend" Aleksey said sincerely

"Do you know if Volkov is planning an attack in any point here in D.C. or any other city in the US?" Gibbs asked

"Yes… and I'm glad to say he is not planning such thing. He has left terrorism for regular arm dealing. I received some information today on a purchase made by a man who identifies himself as Siraj Hārūn. He is a member of the terrorist organization Fatah al-Islam"

"Is that all you've got for us?" Gibbs said

"Yes"

"Thank you" He said and walked to the door "DiNozzo…"

"If anything happens to Liz… you'll be the second to pay for it, right after Volkov" Tony threatened Aleksey who gave him a smile

"Liz was right about you… you are a nice guy… I'm glad she's friends with someone like you" He said

Tony eyed him suspiciously and then walked out of the room along with Gibbs.

"What now, boss?" Tony asked anxiously

"We're gonna need Reznikov's help to locate Liz…"

"Are you serious? You are going to take his offer and ask him to help us?"

"No" Gibbs said and started to walk away "You are"

"What? No, boss…"

"Coordinate a search team with him"

Gibbs left Tony alone in the hallway.

"Yeah… of course… why not…?"

Tony said and re-entered the room.

"Ok, Aleksey, Liev or whatever your name is… this is the thing: my boss says we're gonna need your help to get Liz back and if he says so, he's probably right… or if he says so and I don't do it then I'd probably die… but either ways, we need to find Liz and…" He said

"I'll help you, agent DiNozzo. I'll contact my team so we can coordinate a search in several speculated places in D.C." Reznikov simply said and Tony nodded

"Ok, then… I'm glad we agree…" He said and left the room

* * *

Upstairs, Gibbs burst into Vance's office.

"I was wondering when you'd come, Gibbs" Leon said calmly

"I was wondering when you were planning telling me about the Russian Intelligence presence in D.C." Gibbs snapped back

"You talked to Reznikov?" Vance asked and Gibbs nodded "He came?"

"DiNozzo is talking with him…" Gibbs said and after a pause he continued "He offered his help to find agent Hadley" Vance tilted his head back slightly "You didn't know she had gone missing, did you?"

"When?"

"Two hours ago"

"Who did it?"

"Luka Volkov"

"No wonder Reznikov is offering his help… he's probably hoping to find him while looking for Hadley" Vance said standing up

"Do I have authorization to use all the force to look for Liz?" Gibbs asked

"Would it make a difference if I said no?"

Gibbs smiled and shook his head as he left the director's office.

* * *

**Action, baby!**

**Ok, I'm gonna go lay down... everything is spinning around and I do not believe it's normal...**

**Thank you for reading, my children!**  
**Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo**


	12. Chapter 11: Occupational Hazards

**Good day, my children! How are you today? Hope you're doing good.**

**Straight to the chapter, disclaimers, blu bli blu... go CBS!!! lol**

**Enjoy!!! :)**

* * *

**CHAPTER 11**

In the strange building she was being kept at, Liz tried, with no avail to break free from the duct tape.

"It's useless…" She said to herself

"It is, Elizabeth…" Dmitri said walking to her

"Oh, if it isn't the Prince of Darkness himself: Dmitri Vasiliev… or would you like me to call you Luka Volkov?" Liz said mockingly

"You know my real full name, so what? It doesn't give you any control over me, does it?"

"Maybe… maybe not… but it might give NCIS some control over the situation, don't you think?"

"They don't know my real identity…" He smiled but lost it as he saw Liz smiling as well "Do they?" She didn't answer and that made him lose his temper. He approached to her and pulled her head backwards by the hair "What do they know?"

"Probably more than what I know and that's a lot…" She replied without losing her smile "I'd be scared if I were you, Luka…"

"Shut up!" He exclaimed and hit her so hard in the face that made the chair fall to the side

"You're so pathetic…" Liz laughed bearing with the pain from the impact she received against the floor

"What do they know?!" Luka asked almost shouting, kicking Liz in the stomach "Tell me all they know!" He demanded kicking her again

"Not even if you threaten to kill me…" She managed to say in between gasps

"**Забрать ее **_(Pick her up)_" Luka ordered one of the men who had abducted her from the hotel

The henchman did as he was told and set the chair back up.

Liz flinched a little because of the pain.

"You don't want to tell me what you know, huh?" Luka said "Do you remember I mentioned a surprise I had for you?"

Liz didn't lose her composure but remained quiet as Luka walked to a small room at the end of the large story they were at.

Her eyes shot open as she recognized the person who Luka held hands with as they walked back to where Liz was.

"I knew this would surprise you, Lizzie" Luka laughed at Liz's face

"What… you?" Liz managed to ask

"The great agent Elizabeth M. Hadley has gone speechless!" Luka laughed even harder "By the way… what does the M stand for?"

Liz rolled her eyes and exhaled "'Mind your own business', that's what it stands for" She told him the same thing she had told Tony and then looked back at the other person "How could you?"

"You, agent Gibbs and NCIS didn't leave me another choice, did you? I had to protect myself… besides… I have never stopped loving Dmitri…" Kirsty replied and then received a passionately kiss from Luka

"His name is not Dmitri… his name is Luka Volkov and everything he was indicted for back in England was true!" Liz exclaimed

"Yes, I know… I know all about him…" Kirsty said smiling

"Then… why? Why did you accept our help? Why didn't…?" Liz voiced trailed off as her mind tied all the loose ends "You have always been a part of his group… haven't you?"

"No… I met him in the UK…" Kirsty said

"Does he know your real name is Natalya Tereshchenko?"

"Yes, I do… I always thought Kirsty didn't match her personality…" Luka said kissing Kirsty's neck

"You and NCIS did nothing but delay my encounter with Dmitri… and I will never forgive you for that!" Kirsty said and slapped Liz

"Are you out of your mind? This man… he killed…" But before Liz could finish, Kirsty slapped her again

"Shut up!" She exclaimed

"No! He killed your brother and you can't pretend you don't know that!"

"That's a lie! He didn't kill Nikolai! He killed himself! He betrayed Dmitri! He had it coming!" Kirsty said with tears in her eyes slapping Liz a couple of times more

"Easy, my love… let the boys take care of her…" Luka said taking her by the shoulders and comforting her "You heard me" He motioned his 2 henchmen to beat the hell out of Liz "Let's go, Natalya…"

Kirsty looked back at Liz and a tear rolled down her cheek at the scene happening there; if Gibbs and the others didn't get there soon, Liz would be dead before midnight.

Several minutes later, the 2 men who almost killed Liz left but not before one of them spat at her direction.

Of course she was no longer duct taped to the chair but she could hardly move as free as she was.

Bruises, cuts, punches, a few broken ribs, blood running down her nose and some out of her mouth.

This time the pain was unbearable and the tears mixed on her face with the blood. Her breathing became erratic and soon after, the suffering made her give into a deep darkness from which she wasn't sure she could awake.

* * *

The NCIS bullpen was crowded with several agents from the FSB brought by Reznikov and NCIS' own people.

McGee, with the help of Abby ran a search through their computers trying to find a lead that would take them to Volkov's hideout.

"What have you got, McGee?" Gibbs asked

"Nothing yet, boss… this man is a ghost and so is the rest of his organization" Tim replied without stopping typing

"Reznikov's team has nothing yet" Ziva reported as Tony hung up the phone

"Nothing with the CIA, boss… they know nothing" Tony said running a hand through his hair

"Whoa, whoa… what's this?" McGee exclaimed as something appeared on the screen of his computer interrupting the search "uh-uh… boss… you better see this…" He typed a few times and the image he had on his screen passed onto the big one

All the people who were in the bullpen went silent and watched the video in front of them.

It was a video taken by a surveillance camera inside the place where Liz was.

The video displayed the moment in which she was being beaten to death by Volkov's men.

Tony's fist balled up in rage while Abby's eyes filled with tears and McGee tried to comfort her.

Gibbs clenched his jaw when he saw Kirsty being held and kissed by Volkov. And it got worse when he saw her slapping Liz.

"What do we do, Gibbs?" Ziva asked

"We keep working… MOVE YOUR BUTT, PEOPLE!" He shouted at everyone and then his cell phone rang. It was a new number he did not recognize "Yeah, Gibbs…"

"Agent Gibbs…" A known female voice said

"Kirsty… Natalya…" Gibbs said and as his team heard him, they rushed to him

"I don't have much time… Dmitri… he could find out I've called you" She said almost in a whisper

"Where are you?"

"Where is Liz?!" Tony shouted and Gibbs ordered him go silent

"I know Dmitri sent you a video… you must've seen it already and I can't possibly imagine what you're thinking of me but… I swear… I didn't have a choice… I've made him think… I don't even know what to say… wait…" She went quiet for a moment

"Kirsty!" Gibbs called

"I'm sorry…" She murmured

"Where are you?" He asked

"In an abandoned building in 23rd Ave. I don't know the building number but the place is surrounded by Dmitri's men. You can't miss it… I have to go… hurry up, agent Hadley hasn't got much time" Kirsty then hung up and Gibbs looked down at the phone

"What did she say, boss? Where's Liz?" Tony demanded to know

"She said 23rd Ave." Gibbs simply said

"Can we trust her?" Tony asked

"Do we have any other choice, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked and Tony nodded

"I'll run a search" McGee said and typed as fast as his fingers allowed him "I have several buildings, all of them look abandoned"

"Look for one that looks half-way constructed" Ziva suggested "The walls and floor on the video of Liz look coated in new concrete"

"C'mon, Tim" Tony encouraged

"McGee…" Gibbs said

"Almost got it, boss… just… one… more… second… I have it! 46 23rd Ave. Property of a Kovak Vlokul" McGee replied

"Who's that?" Ziva asked

"Luka Volkov… it's an anagram. Gear up people!" Gibbs instructed and both his team and Reznikov's headed to the location they had just obtained

In the car, Tony looked out the window with impatience and thought 'Hang on, Liz… I'm coming…'

* * *

Liz could hardly hear anything anymore around her 'they must've hit me in the head more than I thought' the voice in her head told her.

A while after Volkov's men had beaten her they had taken her to a tiny concrete room and locked her inside.

After about 40 minutes of being in there, the door opened letting the light outside go into the room.

Someone kneeled in front of her checked if she still had a pulse.

Liz slowly opened her eyes and recognized the person in front of her.

"Kirsty…" She struggled to say

"Shhh… be quiet… they'll hear us" Kirsty replied "I am so sorry, Liz… I never meant for this to happen but…"

"You were trying to make him pay for killing your brother…" Liz finished for her

"You knew my name wasn't Kirsty; you knew I had lied in England… that all I wanted was to get back at Volkov for killing Nikolai and still you did all you could to help me"

"Occupational hazards" Liz said and tried to smile but the gesture became a grimace

"I'm gonna get you out of here… c'mon" Kirsty said and helped Liz up

Liz limped as they rushed out of the tiny room and headed towards the safest exit.

"I don't have my gun and I don't think I can fight in this state…" Liz said leaning on Kirsty

"Don't worry… I've already called for help"

"You called Gibbs?" Liz asked half smiling surrounding her torso with her arm

"Yes… I couldn't think of anyone else…" Kirsty replied

"You did well…" Liz then winced in pain

"Liz"

"I'm fine… we have to keep moving…"

Kirsty let Liz support on her once more and they walked as fast as they could through the cold corridors.

"I'm really sorry… this is all my fault"

"Yeah… it is" Liz replied jokingly and Kirsty smiled at her

* * *

Meanwhile, at the room Volkov's people had adapted into a monitoring room, Luka talked to his client Siraj Hārūn.

"We're still waiting for the last shipment, Hārūn" He said annoyed by his client's impatience

"We agreed on a specific delivery day, Mr. Volkov and you've delayed it 2 times… my patience is running out" Hārūn said in a menacing tone

"You will get your… merchandise tomorrow before dawn" Luka promised

"I hope so, Mr. Volkov… for your own good…" Hārūn threatened and hung up

Luka slammed the phone on the desk furiously "I want the armament on land by tonight at 11!" He exclaimed

Then, one of his men rushed towards him.

"**Сэр, отошел в прошлое агента! **_(Sir, the agent is gone!)_" He announced

"**Что****?! ****Каким****образом****? **_(What?! How?)_" Luka asked enraged

"**Мы не знаем. Дверь была открыта, и ее не было **_(__I__don__'__t__know__. __The door was open and she wasn't there)_" He explained

"**Идиот****! **_(Idiot!)_" He shouted and back handed the man "**Найти****ее****и****привезти****ее****ко****мне****!** _(Find her and bring her to me!)_" He commanded and the man along with another 3 of his men rushed out of the room "**Я****хочу****чувствовать****себя****удовольствия****от****убийства****ее****себе**_(I want to feel the pleasure of killing her myself)_" He then dialled Kirsty's number and sent him straight to voice mail "You'll pay for this, Natalya…"

* * *

**Woohoo! They know where she is!!! Go team!!!**

**Anyways... I have to say I'm quite sad... yes, I'm sad... because the end will be here in about 2 chapters... buaaaaaaaaaa!!!  
But not to worry... I'm about to finish the sequel (which, just so you know, it's going to be a crossover with, you guessed, NCIS: Los Angeles! Yay!!!) so, be sure to keep reading and to stay tuned... the end is coming... *_***

**Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo**


	13. Chapter 12: That's What The M Stands For

**Good morning, my children... oh, today I feel strange... mixed feelings I have...  
This is the last chapter... buaaaaaaaa!!! It went by so fast!**

**Anyways, as usual, I don't own anything blu bli blu...**

**Enjoy!!!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 12**

Outside the building, several cars and vans pulled over in front of the 20 floors building and the raid team burst into the place.

Tony, geared up with his bulletproof vest, just like the rest of the team drew his gun out and rushed to follow the other in but Gibbs stopped him.

"What do you think you're doing, DiNozzo?" He asked

"I'm going to find Liz" Tony replied

"Not like that, you're not" He said and Tony frowned "You're not going alone, Tony… you've got your whole team here…"

Tony nodded and McGee and Ziva nodded to in support.

The 4 of them prepared their guns and ran into the building followed by Reznikov and his team.

They passed through several corridors, imprisoned many of Volkov's men but they couldn't find him nor Kirsty and Liz.

When they were on the 2nd floor, they separated to cover more ground.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the 15th floor, Kirsty was practically dragging Liz towards the next flight of stairs.

"I don't think I'm gonna make it, Kirsty…" Liz said panting

"No, don't say that… you can do it… I know you can… you're the strongest woman I've ever met"

"You're not to bad yourself… I'm really sorry I wasn't able to help you"

"You've helped me more than anyone I've known" Kirsty thanked her

"You better go" Liz said

"I am not leaving you here. Let's go!" Kirsty said and helped Liz up once more and rushed to the stairs but someone shooting at their direction stopped her

"You're leaving so soon?" Luka called from behind them

Kirsty turned around and Liz made her best to confront Volkov.

"Let her go, Volkov… she won't help you make a deal with them…" Liz said and then smiled at the shooting noises a few floors down "They are coming, Luka… this will be over very soon"

"Your stupid agency can't stop me!" Luka exclaimed with clear fear

"Wanna bet?" Liz asked and then, still smiling, she pulled Kirsty down to the floor

Suddenly, a large explosion resounded in the building and the floor they were in trembled and filled with smoke.

"Run, Kirsty, run!" Liz shouted encouraging Kirsty to flee

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine. Run!"

Kirsty nodded and ran but the amount of smoke didn't let her see a thing.

"Why don't you stay for a little while?" Luka asked sarcastically pulling Kirsty's hair, stopping her "Bitch! I should've killed you when I had the chance… just like I did with your stupid brother!"

He then punched her in the face making her fall on the floor completely unconscious.

Then, he strode to where Liz was and smirked down at her.

"Look at the great agent Hadley… I was right… it will feel wonderful to kill you" He said and pointed his gun at Liz

"Drop your weapon, Volkov" Tony yelled at him

Liz was able to see Tony in the middle of the smoke midst and couldn't help to smile.

Luka also smiled but at Liz.

"Great job, agent DiNozzo… seriously… I'm amazed…" He said still giving his back at Tony

"I will not say it again… put the gun down!"

"Uhmm… you know what? I don't think I will…"

And then, he pointed his gun at Tony and shot indiscriminately. Tony had to duck to dodge the bullets but one grazed his thigh.

Luka then grabbed Liz by the arm and picked her up. With the last bit of strength she had left, she kicked the gun from his hand and he slapped her once more.

"You've been nothing more than a pebble on my shoe since you took my case in England… but this will end today…"

Out of nowhere, he drew a knife out and stabbed Liz in the stomach with it. She widened her eyes in both shock and pain and everything started to go blurry. The smoke had begun to disperse.

"Goodbye, Lizzie…" He whispered into her ear while he pulled the knife out of her abdomen and then kissed her on the cheek as she fell to the floor

Tony saw everything from the floor and screamed as he saw Liz falling "Liz! No!"

"And now…" Luka walked to where Kirsty was after picking his gun up and grabbed her by the neck, picking her up "Wake up, Kirsty… I want you to see how the people you turned to for help die because of you…"

Kirsty opened her eyes and saw Tony crawling his way to Liz's immobile body.

"No…" She gasped

"Volkov! Let her go!" Gibbs commanded pointing his gun at him

"If it isn't the infamous special agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs himself!" Luka exclaimed holding Kirsty against his body pressing the barrel of his gun against her temple

Ziva and McGee arrived soon after and, just like Gibbs, pointed their guns at Volkov.

"There's no way out, Volkov. It's over" Gibbs said

"It's not over until I say it is!" He exclaimed and shot at the 3 agents who had to look for cover

"Liz… Liz… wake up…" Tony pleaded kneeling next to her

She then opened her eyes and saw Volkov turning around and aiming to shoot at Tony and kill him.

As fast as the pain allowed her, she drew one of the two guns Tony carried with him, aimed at Luka and shot him once, which was more than enough to kill him. The bullet went straight through his head between his eyes.

He let go of Kirsty and fell to the ground, dead.

Gibbs, McGee and Ziva rushed to where she was to check if she was ok.

"Kirsty… are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Gibbs asked

"No… no… I'm alright… Liz… she…" Kirsty looked back at where Liz was lying

"Liz! Liz… can you hear me? Please… hang in there…" Tony begged pressing the wound in her stomach as she started to cough blood "No, Liz, no!"

"It's ok, Tony…" She paused and gasped for air "I'm just glad you're safe…"

"McGee, call an ambulance!" Gibbs instructed kneeling next to Liz while Ziva and Kirsty stood next to them and McGee obliged "Liz"

"Gibbs… how's Kirsty?" Liz managed to ask

"She's alright… thanks to you" Gibbs replied looking up at Kirsty

"Good…" More blood continued to drain out of her mouth "I'm sorry…"

She smiled at Tony and then her eyes closed and her body went limp.

"No! Liz!" Tony shouted and started giving her CPR

In less than a minute, the paramedics arrived and continued what Tony was doing.

"Is she…?" Kirsty didn't dare to ask as Gibbs stood up and surrounded her shoulders with his arms

"No… she's alive…" Gibbs said trying to convince himself once the paramedics had taken Liz downstairs and into the ambulance.

Tony rode with her on her way to the hospital while the others followed.

The paramedics had immediately plugged her to a heart monitor but there was no pulse in her body.

"Please, Liz… please…" Tony prayed holding her hand "Please… I can't do this without you…"

* * *

The ride to Bethesda hospital took less than 4 minutes and once there the doctors and nurses put her on a gurney and took her to the OR.

Tony was taken, reluctantly to the ER to attend his leg and Kirsty was also taken there.

Ziva and McGee stayed all the time with Tony who was receiving several stitches on his thigh.

"Do you know anything from Liz? Is she out of surgery yet?" Tony asked for the 3rd time in less than 15 minutes

"No, Tony… not yet… she will be fine, you'll see" McGee reassured

"She had no pulse McGee. She was dead in the ambulance!" Tony exclaimed

"Sir, I'm gonna need you to calm down. I can't stitch you up if you keep moving" The young doctor said

"He'll be still" Ziva said and placed her hand on his shoulder "Right, Tony?"

"Ouch… yes…" Tony replied frowning

Meanwhile, 3 beds away, another doctor was disinfecting the cut Volkov had given Kirsty on the cheekbone after punching her.

"Are you ok?" Gibbs asked

"Yes… how is Liz?"

"We don't know yet… she's still in surgery"

"This was my fault… if I had told you the truth from the beginning… none of this would have happened" She said looking down, a few tears rolling down her face

"You did what you thought was the right thing to do… you fought to avenge your brother and I think he would be proud of you…" Gibbs said

Kirsty couldn't find anything to say and just nodded.

* * *

3 hours later, once they were all in the waiting room, the surgeon who had performed the operation on Liz walked out of the OR.

"Are you relatives or friends of Miss Hadley?" He asked them

"Yes… how is she?" Tony asked rushing towards him

"She's out of danger" He said and her 4 friends exhaled in relief "It was a complicated surgery since she was very weak and had been severely beaten. The knife scratched her intestine and went right into her stomach. We were able to stop the bleeding and to sew up the internal wounds" He paused for a very dramatic moment and then continued "She flat-lined twice but she is a very strong woman and did her best to make it through"

"She is…" Gibbs said

"Can we see her?" Tony asked

"Yes, but only one of you… you will all be able to see her but she needs rest" The doctor explained

Tony looked at Ziva, McGee and Kirsty and they nodded. He then turned to Gibbs.

"Tell her we send our love" He told his agent patting him on the shoulder

Tony smiled, nodded and walked into Liz's room.

After closing the door, he turned around and felt his heart shrinking by just seeing her lying on that bed plugged to what it seemed a thousand machines.

Slowly, he made his way to her bedside and once there, he held her hand and squeezed it.

"If I had believed you… If I had trusted you… you wouldn't be lying here… helpless…" He whispered and then felt how her hand squeezed his

"Who said I'm helpless?" She asked and then opened her eyes making him smile

"Hey!"

"Hey… how's your leg?"

"Better than your stomach, apparently"

"Then why do you look worse than me?"

Tony looked down in shame and felt how she tightened her grip on his hand.

"I should've trusted you, Liz…"

"Yes, you should have…" She replied "But so I should have" He looked up at her "I've lost so many partners and friends and loved ones while doing this job that I thought, if I told you or Gibbs or anyone else about my mission, you would get killed too"

"Liz, we might not be as good agents as you are but I think we can put up with a couple of fights by ourselves…"

"I know… and I'm sorry for distrusting you"

"I thought you were our enemy… do you know how bad that makes me feel?"

"I left you this morning without any explanation… do you know how bad that makes me feel?"

"Oh yes… we are yet to talk about that…" Tony warned "But before I forget, Gibbs and the others send their love"

"Thanks…"

"Why did you leave?" He asked a moment later

"I'm not entirely sure… I suppose I was scared…"

"Of what?"

"My feelings… your feelings…"

"Well, I can tell you last night felt good…" Tony joked and Liz laughed lightly

"Yes, it did… but more than good, I think the word is right…"

"It felt right?"

"Yes… I feel… right… when I'm with you…" Tony narrowed his eyes "I don't have a home, Tony… I haven't had one in a long time… and you… you make me feel like home…" She confessed

"Then… what you said this morning… in the elevator… about… you being in love with me…? Is it…?"

"True?" Even with the dim light of the room and Liz's paleness, Tony could see her blushing slightly "Yes, Tony… it is true… I love you"

"I love you too, Liz… I've loved you for quite sometime…" He opened his heart to her

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah…"

"Tony… come closer…" She asked and he leaned forward a little bit "Closer" She requested and he obliged "Closer" She said one last time and after he'd done it, she raised her hand and slapped him lightly in the back of the head

"Ouch! What was that for?" He asked rubbing the back of his head

"You've loved me for quite sometime and you hadn't said a word until you saw me on my deathbed?!" Liz exclaimed

"Well, you never said anything either!"

"Why don't you just shut up and kiss me?" She said smiling

He smiled back, leaned forward and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

Suddenly, the steady beep that the heart monitoring machine was making increased its rate and Tony interrupted the kiss.

"What was that?" He asked

"Nothing…" She lied blushing deeper than before, biting her lower lip

"Hmm…"

Again, he leaned forward and once his lips touched hers the beeping sound sped up once more. Tony parted again and smirked.

"Am I doing that to you?" He asked cheekily

"No…" She lied again

He did the same thing he had done the 2 previous times and the outcome was the same.

"I am! Your heart gives a concert whenever I kiss you! You're crazy about me…" He bragged and she back-head slapped him again

"Oh, shut up!" She said and then pulled the electrode off her finger "Let's try again…"

He laughed and kissed her again. This time, no sound interrupted them.

"That's better. Not having to be embarrassed by my own heart…" She said

"Sure…" Tony laughed with her

* * *

Outside, the room, Kirsty leaned against the wall and exhaled.

"What's on your mind?" Gibbs asked standing next to her

"Nothing…" She said starting to walk away

"Where are you going?"

"Home… I need sometime to think about… everything…"

She left the hospital and McGee approached to Gibbs who hadn't taken his eyes off Kirsty.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked

"She's confused…"

"About?"

"Her life… for the past 6 years her entire life has revolved around her obsession to avenge her brother… now that his killer is dead, she doesn't know what to do next… I know the feeling" Gibbs said and McGee remained quiet

* * *

Later that day, Abby and Ducky arrived to the hospital and after the 2 of them, Gibbs and McGee had entered to see her, Ziva asked them if she could have a moment alone with Liz. They said yes and they were left alone.

"Liz…" Ziva started

"Don't, Ziva…" Liz interrupted her

"No, let me say this…" Ziva said "Forgive me"

"No, forgive me… I was arrogant to believe I could do it alone… you were just trying to protect your friends… your family and I wouldn't ask less of you"

"A Mossad agent?"

"No… Ziva David" Liz answered giving Ziva the peace of mind she needed

* * *

A few days went by and after one last check up, Liz was discharged from the hospital and Tony took her to her hotel. They hadn't told anyone about their relationship and for the sake of Gibbs' rule #12 and Tony's job, they weren't planning on doing it anytime soon.

One day after being discharged, she went to NCIS office to talk to director Vance.

"Take a seat, agent Hadley" He said and she did so "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thank you… you wanted to talk…" She said going straight to the point

"Yes… I've received agent Gibbs' report on the case and a separate report on your… performance in it" He stopped for a second and then proceeded "After having a discussion with SECNAV and assessing agent Gibbs' request, we've decided to offer you the post of Affiliated NCIS Field Agent" Liz raised her eyebrows in surprise "You would still perform your duties as Special SAS Agent but you would also have an official post here with us… what do you say?"

"I say: I'd be honoured" She replied

"Good. I'll start the paperwork to complete your integration to NCIS" He said standing up

She mimicked Vance, stood up and shook hands with him.

"Welcome to NCIS, agent Hadley" He said shaking her hand

"Thank you"

She walked out of the office and headed to the bullpen, where Tony, McGee and Ziva were waiting anxiously for her.

"So… what happened?" Tony asked rushing to the stairs

"He wanted to talk…" Liz replied elongating Tony's suffering

"And?" He insisted

"And… he offered me the post of Affiliated NCIS Field Agent!" She exclaimed and her 3 new teammates congratulated her

"That's awesome!" Tony whispered into her ear as he hugged her

"I know… I can't wait to thank Gibbs for recommending me"

"You deserved it, Liz" Gibbs said behind her

She turned around and hugged him "Thank you. It means a lot to me…"

"As it does to us… welcome" He said smiling at her and then led her to his desk.

She saw him taking a yellow envelope out of one of the drawers and he then handed it to her.

"What is this?"

"Your CIA file" He replied and she looked up at him confused "Kort gave it to me the morning you disappeared"

"Should I ask why?"

"I don't really see the point… I didn't ask for it… and as you can see, I never opened it"

"Why not?"

"Because I trust you…" He said and Liz smiled as she put it back inside Gibbs' desk and he gave her a questioning look "Just in case you might ever feel like reading it…" Gibbs narrowed his eyes "I have nothing to hide… besides… you might need it sometime in the future…" She chuckled and winked at Gibbs "What happened with the investigation on Volkov?" She asked after a moment

"Reznikov and his team recovered all the data they needed to put many of Volkov's clients, contacts and colleagues behind bars…" McGee explained

"Have you talked to Reznikov?" Tony asked Liz

"He came to see me at the hospital before returning to Moscow… he told me they are still looking for Siraj Hārūn…"

"If they don't catch him, we will, Liz" Gibbs said and Liz nodded in agreement

"I'm going to give Abby the good news" Liz said heading to the elevator and Tony followed

"I'm coming with you" He said

They got inside and while the waited for the doors to close Liz turned to him and said "Look inside your right jacket pocket"

He did so and pulled a folded piece of paper out of it. He opened it and read the single word in it to himself.

"What is this?" He asked

"That's what the M stands for…" She replied smiling

And he smiled widely as the elevator doors closed.

* * *

That night, Gibbs was in his basement, sanding one of the sides of the 3rd boat he was building. He had been thinking about Kirsty since the day she had left from the hospital and he hadn't heard from her again. Then the doorbell rang.

"It's open!" He called and heard how the front door was closed. He heard the footsteps of the visitor getting closer and yet he did not turned to face the door

"Good evening, agent Gibbs" Kirsty said coyly

"Good evening, Kirsty…" He said finally turning around

"I… I just came to give this back to you…" She said putting Shannon's tracksuit on top of one of the tables

"You didn't have to…"

"Yes, I did… and… I want to apologize… for all the trouble I caused…" She said not able to look at him in the eye

He walked to her and stopped a few inches away from her.

"Never apologize… it's a sign of weakness… and no matter what you say, you are not weak…"

Then, without previous notice, he leaned forward and kissed her in the mouth.

It wasn't a declaration but it was the beginning of something and Kirsty believed that it was definitely the beginning of something good.

**THE END...?**

* * *

**Oh dear... well, I hope you liked it and please have mercy. This was my very first NCIS story and the first time I posted something here... I'm a fragile creature... (yeah, right... ^_^)**

**So... just so you know, I'll be finishing the sequel either today or tomorrow, the latest. Remember it's gonna be a crossover with NCIS: Los Angeles!! Woohoo!! More cute guys!!! *puppy eyes***

**Anyways, thank you so much for reading and for adding my story and me to your favourites and alerts.**

**I'll bee seeing you around very very soon!**

**Koo Koo Kah Choo! xoxo**


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